Promise Me
by katiestark
Summary: Tony and Steve's relationship is far from perfect and Tony messes up, a lot, but has he stepped over the line this time? Rated M for obvious reasons in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - Hello! I'm back, I didn't know how to follow on from my first story but I thought this would give me lots to write about, I hope you like it. Feel free to review if you want bits changing around, thank you!**

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Tony knows it's wrong when he kisses her, he knows it's wrong when she leads him away whispering to him "I'm sure Captain America won't mind if I borrow you for just one night." Something is screaming at him in the back of his mind telling him to stop and how hurt Steve will be when he finds out, but he keeps going until she's moaning out his name, that's what Steve's supposed to do. He hates the fact he's doing this to Steve, but he can't stop. When they finish he regrets it, it didn't even satisfy him, not the way Steve does. Maybe just maybe he wouldn't have to find out, but he knows that isn't going to work when he sees the look on Peppers face as he stumbles out of the hotel room, messy hair and miss-matched buttons.

"Tony that better be Steve in there." She was disappointed and angry, but right now he didn't give a fuck. He was too tired and just wanted to grab a bottle of whiskey and keep drinking until he couldn't feel it any more. He had cheated on Steve and he felt like shit, it wasn't even someone he cared about which made it ten times worse.

"I messed up big time, didn't I Pepper?" She just glared at him; he wished Steve had come with him to this convention, so this would never have happened.

"This is a new low, sure sleeping around when your single is fine but not when you're dating someone Tony. Don't you realise how badly this will affect Steve?"

"I know, Pepper I couldn't stop. I tried so badly but I couldn't. She even fucking reminded me before we started that I was with Steve."

"Tony, what I don't understand is that you waited a year to have sex with Steve and after only nine months being with him that way you go and do it with some stupid girl you met two seconds ago?" Pepper was practically shouting, the girl he'd just slept with could probably hear her. He didn't even know her name.

"I got lonely, at least when Steve didn't want to have sex he was always there, I could go and cuddle him or something." Tony tried to convince himself what he did was ok, but there was absolutely no excuse. "Pepper please don't tell him, it's been a month since I've seen him in person. Why do I even have to go to meetings abroad then shitty conventions, why did you put them back to back, if I could've seen him or kissed him at least once maybe I wouldn't have…" Tony babbled, the words just spilling out of his mouth. But he had done it now; there was no point in looking back.

"What about Peter? You two are practically his parents now! I know Steve asked me to sort out adoption papers for when you got back." _Shit, Peter. _When Tony and Steve had gone to give him his comic back what seemed like years ago he was having a bit of a crisis. Long story short he is half human half spider, his parents died, SHIELD enlisted him, he lives in Stark tower. Tony had gotten around some legal things with Peter living with them with his charm and wit and money. Mainly the money, although his charm and wit helped a little.

"Pepper can you just fly me back. I need to see Steve, tell the people at the meet and greets I'm ill or something."

"Sure Tony, if you had told me you weren't coping I would have arranged it sooner. But it's too late for that now isn't it? Are you going to tell him?" Pepper had gone from angry to sympathetic in exactly 2.3 seconds.

"I don't know what I'm going to do Pepper, he doesn't have to know, does he?"

"Tony you have to tell him otherwise he'll find out and it won't be from you, which will make things ten times worse."

"He's going to leave me isn't he." Tony mumbled into his hands.

"I have no idea Tony. Now, come on do you want to pack your things yourself or should I get someone to send them over?"

"I just want to see Steve."

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The flight took eight hours and as soon as Tony was back on land again he raced into the car and told Happy to drive as fast as he could, he was a little bit confused but could tell Tony was desperate so he complied without asking too many questions.

As soon as they pulled into Stark tower Tony practically fell out of the car, he fumbled for his keys to grant him access.

"JARVIS, where is Steve?" Tony asked his AI frantically.

"I believe he is in the living room, sir."

Tony hit the 24th button on the lift which would take him to the living room; once the doors opened he managed to regain some of his composure before walking out calmly in typical Stark style.

"Hey Peter, there's some ice cream in the fridge if you want it, how was school?" Steve said, not looking up from his book.

"Guess again." You could hear the smirk in Tony's voice.

"Tony!" Steve jumped up from where he was sitting and walked over to where Tony was standing. He wrapped his arms around Tony's waist and smiled fondly. "Why are you back? You were meant to be there for at least another week!"

"Pepper let me go early, now where's my hello kiss?" Tony said as Steve leaned in to capture Tony's lips in a light kiss. Tony roughly pulled Steve forward, nipping playfully on his bottom lip. Steve opened his mouth and let Tony in, he had forgotten how good Steve had tasted. He gently massaged Steve's mouth with his tongue, running a hand through his hair, making Steve sigh and melt further into the kiss. They were interrupted by Peter coughing.

"We have a rule you know."

"I'm glad to see you too Peter." Tony said before turning back to Steve and harshly pressing their lips together.

"Ew, ok I'm happy you're back Tony. I'm going to be in my room, away from you guys because seriously you are like 80 it should be illegal for you to make out. Anything I can eat?"

"Yup, ice cream in the fridge." Steve called from where Tony had him pressed up against a wall, trying to kiss him again.

"Seriously, you two are like horny teenagers. Tell me when dinners ready."

As soon as Peter turned his back they pulled apart laughing, this is what Tony didn't want to ruin, moments like these would be destroyed forever if he told Steve.

"You should stop winding him up, soon he'll be able to kick both our butts." Steve giggled.

"Never in a million years, if he even tries it I'll cut off his internet and switch his phone with a Hammer industries one."

"You are a very cruel man."

"I know, so what have I missed?" Tony smiled, walking over to the couch.

"Well, er Peter got a record number of black eyes last week." Steve pulled out two cans of coke from the fridge and joined Tony on the couch.

"Oh wow, what was it this time?"

"Someone threatening his girlfriend turned out to be a genetic mutant which every time he thought it was dead it re-spawned or something, right up his street, but nothing too dangerous, I made sure of that."

"Girlfriend?" Steve told him about a girl a couple of weeks ago on the phone, but nothing about a relationship.

"Yeah, her name's Gwen. She's a great kid."

"Can't wait to meet her, is she pretty?"

"Yeah she is actually, oh yeah Peter had parents evening, which was… Interesting."

"Oh, did you get recognised a lot?"

"Yeah, apparently Peter hadn't told anyone he lived with two superheroes."

"It's because you are embarrassing." Peter muttered, slinking out of the hall into the kitchen to put his ice cream tub in the bin.

"We're not that bad!" They said in unison.

"Now that. That is freaky." Peter laughed, waving a spoon in their general direction.

"Anyway his grades are fine and his behaviour is well, you know what he's like."

"I can hear you." Peter called from down the hall.

"So, did you do anything exciting?" Tony turned back to Steve laughing.

"Saving the world a couple times, filling out paperwork." Steve shrugged.

"Awesome, do you mind if I go down to my lab for like two minutes?"

"Sure, I need to get on with dinner anyway." Tony stood up, downing the rest of his drink.

"Thanks." Tony kissed Steve lightly on the lips, smiling as he pulled back. "I missed you bud."

"I missed you too. Now go say hi to your robots, they'll be happy to see you."

"They're not actually capable of emotions."

"You know what I mean." He pecked Steve on the cheek before skipping off towards the elevator, smile hiding his inner self-hatred.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - Sorry I didn't post last night, I was watching comic relief. This chapter was really fun to write, I hope you enjoy it!**

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Tony managed to keep up his mask of confidence until he stepped inside the lift. _God Steve was so perfect. _Maybe they can both be happy and sail off into the sunset together, Steve didn't have to know. The girl might blab to the gossip magazines but they wouldn't buy her story, even if it's true. The public love the Superfamily; the media wouldn't dare taint the perfect image they had created for gay rights.

When he was in the safety of his workshop he flopped down on the couch and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Dum-E whirred around him before buzzing off to destroy one of Tony's projects.

**Pepper: Have you told him?**

**Tony: No and I don't intend to.**

**Pepper: That isn't a good idea Tony.**

**Tony: For once in my life I'm happy, with Steve. I don't want anything to change that.**

**Pepper: Oh you are so head over heels in love that you cheated on him?**

**Tony: I was lonely and he didn't pick up when I called!**

**Pepper: Tony that isn't an excuse. Steve deserves to know.**

**Tony: Ok.**

He checked up on his cars, gadgets and suits before tinkering with the washing machine he was in the process of building. Tony was pretty depressed and couldn't concentrate, if he didn't tell Steve about what happened Pepper probably would. He had to do it. Straight away. Tony paced around the lift, wondering how to minimise the chances of Steve leaving him. He couldn't use any maths equation to help him, either Steve would stay or go. As soon as Tony stepped out of the lift Steve turned around, a huge smile spread across his face.

"I was just about to tell JARVIS, I made pasta as fast as I could because you must be pretty hungry right?"

"Yeah I am, thanks hun." Tony kissed him quickly before turning to the to get out some juice.

"You alright Tony?" Steve sounded concerned, he wouldn't be worried for him in a couple of minutes though, he would probably loose all respect for Tony.

"Yeah, just something I need to tell you."

"I'm all ears." Tony was just about to tell him, he really was but then Peter walked in. _Damn you Peter._

"Later," Tony whispered to Steve before taking three glasses out of the cupboard.

During dinner Steve and Peter questioned Tony about the meetings then the numerous conventions. It was all going fine until Peter decided to bring up how he was back so early.

"So what about the meet and greets? I swear you had like two more and a photo op." Peter talked into his pasta.

"And a Q&A, fun stuff right?" Tony tried to divert the subject away from how he got out.

"Won't they be disappointed?"

"Yeah I guess, but they're all getting personally signed photos and if they want they're being moved to The Avengers conventions, even though they were all tech geeks."

"Fair enough, why'd Pepper let you out?" Peter really liked asking questions, which was a good thing and a bad thing.

"I missed you guys, told her I wasn't coping and she let me come home." Tony shrugged, filling his mouth with pasta. It was true-ish.

"Aww Tony Stark, a family man." Peter sneered; Tony stuck his tongue out at him.

"Peter that's enough, go and put your plate in the sink." Steve scolded, Peter stood up quickly and dropped his plate in the sink, nobody would dare disagree with Captain America. Peter took a biscuit out of the jar and hurried off to his room. "So what did you want to talk about?" Steve asked sweetly, gently picking up Tony's hand. He couldn't do it, not when Steve was looking at him like that.

"It doesn't matter, don't worry about me." Tony smiled sadly, curling his fingers around Steve's.

"You might be able to fool everyone else when you're upset Tony, but not me, look at me." He lifted his head to meet Steve's gaze. His eyes were trusting and loyal, everything Tony would soon break.

"I don't want to talk about it now Steve, I don't want to tell you. It will upset you and I can't face that." Tony stood up and rushed out of the room, urging the tears not to fall. _Since when did he get so emotional? _ He changed into some trackies and flopped down onto the bed, he just wanted everything to go away. A couple of minutes later he heard Steve knocking at the door.

"Tony, can I come in?"

"If you want to." Tony mumbled against the sheets. Steve opened the door slowly, letting warm light into the room.

"Hey," Steve sat down on the bed, rubbing Tony's back "what's wrong?"

"I can't tell you." Tony sounded terrible; he could feel the tears running down his face. Why can't he be strong for Steve and just tell him for god's sake.

"Tony are you crying? It can't be that bad, can it?" Steve flipped Tony over and pushed him up so Tony's head was resting on Steve's shoulder. Steve wiped away his tears and pressed a kiss into his hair.

"It is, you'll leave me but I have to tell you."

"Well I'll make that decision for myself thanks."

"I cheated on you." Tony said flatly Steve pulled back harshly, a mix of surprise and confusion filling his eyes.

"W-what do you mean? What are you taking about? Was it just a kiss Tony, please tell me it was just a kiss."

"No." He whispered.

"What are you dating someone else?"

"No."

"Well what the hell happened then Tony?" Steve was shouting at him now, but he couldn't really hear, not over the ringing in his ears.

"I slept with someone who wasn't you yesterday."

"What? Why would you do that Tony?" Steve was angry and he looked really hurt. Well, that would be expected. Tony just shrugged in response to the question, Steve was standing up now. He looked like we was about to hit something, most probably Tony. "I'm gonna- I'm gonna give you some space tonight Tony." Steve pulled out a bag from the wardrobe, stuffed some clothes in and his phone.

"Where are you going?" Tony croaked.

"It doesn't really concern you anymore does it Tony? You can tell Peter why I've left in the morning."

"Steve please don't leave, please I'll go sleep on the couch just please stay." Tony was begging, Tony had never begged in his life before.

"No Tony, I'm leaving. Just get some sleep tonight, promise me you won't do anything stupid." Steve turned and left, slamming the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - Here's the next chapter! Took me a while to write, I hope you like it:)**

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Tony was alone, nobody cared about him now. He ruins every good relationship he has; with Pepper he drove her away by constantly doing reckless things and now Steve because he cheated on him. He fell asleep, softly crying until his breathing evened out. He woke up still feeling terrible, he padded into the kitchen where Peter was sitting at the table, eating some toast and reading a book. Tony made some coffee and slumped down on the table.

"So, where's Steve?" He remembered Steve telling him something about having to tell Peter himself why he had left.

"We had an argument." Tony stared into his coffee cup, hoping it would give him some form of comfort.

"Yeah, I heard. But usually he just sleeps on the couch and you two make up the next day."

"Not this time kiddo."

"Why?"

"I messed up a lot this time."

"How?"

"Because I cheated on him! Ok Peter, you happy now?" Tony was shouting now, he really couldn't be arsed to talk like a civil human being.

"Why the fuck would you do that?!" Peter looked pretty upset; before Tony could answer he had grabbed his school bag and was out the door.

After he finished his coffee he went back to his room, showered and changed, even though there wasn't that much point seeing as nobody was in the tower apart from him. He went down to his workshop and finished off the washing machine. He was going to go out and buy some alcohol and drink himself into oblivion but he was stopped by Pepper.

"Oh why are you here?" Tony had long gotten past the polite greetings stage with Pepper.

"Nice to see you too and I was just wondering if you were ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine why wouldn't I be?"

"Tony you're not fine, c'mon talk to me." Pepper lead him upstairs, sat him down on the couch and got him a mug of coffee. "What did Steve say?"

"Not a lot really, he just packed a bag and left. I don't even know where he's gone." Tony was cradling the coffee, savouring its warmth.

"Well you two have to talk about this you know?"

"Yeah, yeah I know. I don't really want to do it now though; I'll wait until he calls me."

"Ok Tony. I'm here for you; just know that lots of people do care about you. I brought you some groceries so you won't starve. Do you want me to stay here?"

"Hold on two secs Pep, someone's calling me." Tony dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "It's Peter's school." Tony was surprised, Peter did some pretty bad stuff but he'd never been phoned before.

"Hello, is that Mr Stark?" A polite, clipped voice asked him.

"Yeah, erm-what's Peter done this time?"

"Well, nothing. Because he isn't here, I was phoning to see if he was ill." _Shit._

"Nope, he even left a bit early this morning."

"Oh, that isn't like Peter." She sounded as shocked as Tony was.

"Yeah, I'll call him now. Thank you for telling me."

"You're welcome, Mr Stark." Tony hung up the phone before flipping out.

"Peter isn't at school!" He practically screamed at Pepper.

"Woah Tony, calm down. He can't have gone far, he can't drive and he didn't take his skateboard because I saw it on my way in."

"Pepper, there is such thing as a taxi you know."

"Well how much money did he have?"

"I don't know, probably enough! I need to call him." Tony quickly dialled Peter's number, but it went straight to voicemail, brilliant. "Pepper he's not picking up what do I do?"

"Well why did he leave early this morning?"

"He was angry at me because I told him I cheated on Steve."

"So, where would he go Tony? For a genius you're quite stupid sometimes."

"Steve! I can't call him though; I don't want to talk to him and he is really angry at me."

"Tony for god's sake man up and call him, you can talk about your feelings later." Pepper was as worried as Tony, Peter and her got close; they enjoyed gossiping about Tony and embarrassing him.

"Ok, but he won't want to talk to me." Tony sighed.

"Just ask him if he knows where Peter is, if he does great but if he doesn't explain the situation to him."

"Alright." Tony sucked in a deep breath and dialled Steve's number, it took a couple of rings but eventually he picked up.

"Hi Steve, listen I know you're really pissed off but do you know where Peter is?" Tony spoke as quickly as he could so Steve couldn't interrupt him.

"Yeah he's here with me, why?" Tony was flooded with relief, he nodded slightly at Pepper and she looked more relaxed now too.

"Oh thank god, why isn't he at school?"

"He told me he had a free period, Peter!"

"Can you just put him on the phone for like two seconds then I'll stop bothering you." He heard some rustling before Peter started talking.

"What do you want?"

"Er I want to know why you are not at school and why you lied to Steve." Tony scolded.

"I didn't lie to him! I do have a free period, just not right now. I wanted to make sure he was ok as well."

"How did you find out where he was?" Tony asked, calming down slightly.

"Texted him."

"And you didn't think to tell me what you were doing? I was worried sick Peter, you can't just do things like that without telling me."

"Sorry, I didn't think you cared anymore."

"Peter of course I still care about you and Steve, I really don't know why I did what I did. I'm sorry if you thought that meant I didn't care about you anymore, because I do Peter. I love you like a son, come back to the tower for now and if you want and if Steve's cool with it you can move in with him when he gets an apartment, if you'd prefer that."

"What do you mean 'get an apartment' you two aren't properly breaking up are you?" He could hear Steve asking for the phone back so he managed to quickly say bye to Peter before Steve was on it again.

"Hey Tony, I'll get Peter to the tower then can you make sure to take him to school?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Oh also do you want to get a coffee sometime and erm-talk?"

"Yep, I think we should do that."

"Bye Tony."

"Bye Steve."

Tony hung up the phone and turned back to a fidgety Pepper, who had been bugging him throughout the phone call to tell her what was happening.

"What did he say?" She asked cautiously.

"Peter was a Steve's hotel so he's bringing him back here, then I'm taking Peter to school and Steve wants to get coffee soon to talk things through."

"At least he still wants to see you right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Oh Tony, I'm going to stay here for the rest of the day because you have way better wifi than I do."

"Yeah whatever Pep."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N - Sorry I forgot to put this at the start but I don't own these two characters or Marvel, I am just borrowing them for this story. Thank you! Please review I could really use a hand right now, not quite sure where it's going to go.**

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About fifteen minutes later Steve and Peter arrived, Tony came down to meet them. _Queue awkward conversation with Steve._

"Thanks for dropping him off, Peter go and pick a car Happy's busy." Peter hurried off into the garage, clearly taking the hint.

"No problem, do you mind if I go grab a few more things. I forgot something last night."

"We really are doing this then?"

"Yeah, well no, maybe. It's kind of what I wanted to talk about. You free sometime next week?"

"Yup, I should be. Can you text me the details? Peter's already 2 hours late."

"Sure, can I?" Steve gestured to the lift.

"Knock yourself out, Pepper's up there working."

"Thanks." Steve smiled, calling the lift. Tony wandered off to find Peter; he was sitting in a black Jaguar. It was neat and fast without being too showy offy. The drive to Peter's school took twenty very awkward minutes. They ended up talking about cars though, which wasn't too bad.

They pulled up to the school and a girl was sitting on the steps, she looked worried. They got out of the car and her face lit up. _Ah, so this must be Gwen._ She was pretty like Steve had said. "Don't be embarrassing." He heard Peter whisper as they walked towards her.

"Hey Gwen, this is erm Tony, he's kind of my dad." Tony felt warm inside at Peter calling him his sort of dad, it felt right.

"Hello Mr Stark." He shook Gwen's outstretched hand smiling kindly at her.

"Hi there and it's Tony. It's really nice to meet you."

"Ok you can leave now." Peter chipped in.

"Er no, I need to explain to the receptionist why you're late."

"Ugh, fine." Peter threw his head back and marched in, closely followed by Gwen and Tony.

Tony told the receptionist that they were having a bit of trouble at home, he flashed a smile and she didn't pester him for any more information. He left the school and headed by the tower, feeling better about everything. Steve seemed to want to stay friends, which was the second best possible outcome of the situation. When he got home he realised Steve had already texted him the details of where and when they were going. He had probably been keen to sort it out before he forgot about it or something.

**Steve: Small coffee shop on Park Avenue, can you do Wednesday at 11ish?**

**Tony: Yeah that sounds ok, I really hope we can work this out.**

**Steve: Me too Tony.**

**Tony: See you soon.**

It was just after twelve so Tony decided to make some toast, after three tries and burning each of them he made Pepper do it, but she insisted he had to watch. He was proud of himself for eating and staying positive, if it wasn't for Peter he would be down in his lab either drinking or passed out. For the rest of the day Tony actually helped Pepper run their company, it was more difficult than he thought but twice as boring. When Peter got home he helped him with his science homework, it was nice being able to do something with him. For the first time he actually started to believe he would be fine without Steve, they could still be friends after all.

They ordered pizza for dinner seeing as neither of them could cook, Tony would have to learn if he was going to be living alone again. He went to bed at a reasonable time after watching some TV, his bed was cold and big without Steve lying next to him, but it was ok. He could get used to it again.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N - Ok so this is part one of the coffee shop scene thing, hope you like it! Thanks for e reviews, more are welcome!:)**

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For the next five days they kept to their regular-ish schedule, they would wake up at around eight, have breakfast together, and then Peter would go to school on week days and stay at the tower or visit Gwen on the weekends. Tony tried to help Pepper run the shared company seeing as she had made residence in the tower, he was fine, surprisingly. He didn't really need her keeping watch over him but she was good company for when Tony got a bit lonely or sad.

Tony visited Bruce on Monday evening, they went out for a drink and Tony told him what had happened, he was angry but luckily the other guy didn't make an appearance. When he eventually he calmed down and realised that Tony was going through a tough time too he said that he would always be there if Tony ever wanted to talk, which was a bit comforting.

On Wednesday he woke up at around seven thirty and tiptoed into the kitchen, Peter probably wouldn't be awake for at least half an hour so Tony decided to go out for a jog. He was going to make this, well whatever he and Steve were doing into a good thing; he was determined to come out of it a better person.

When he got back Peter was sitting at the table munching on some toast. He had poured out some orange juice for Tony and set a plate out.

"Thanks buddy." He sipped the juice before going to make some toast like Pepper had taught him.

"No problem, have you talked to Steve yet?" _Peter really didn't want them breaking up did he?_

"A couple of texts, we're going out for coffee today. Peter you do realise there is a big possibility we won't get back together."

"Please try and make it work Tony, I want us to be a family." Tony got up and hugged Peter, holding him close to his chest.

"I will Peter, I promise." He mumbled. He let go of Peter smiling sadly at him. "Now hurry up, I don't want you being late for school."

"I won't be and I might go over to Steve's tonight, he's ok with it."

"Yeah that's fine, but take your homework."

"Whatever." Peter rolled his eyes as he hopped off of the chair, picking up his school bag and strolling out of the door.

Tony finished his breakfast and he had two hours to kill before he had to go and meet Steve. He decided to have a shower and get changed into clothes which he could be seen in public in. He cleaned up from breakfast and watched some more TV before leaving to meet Steve. The café was only a short walk from the tower, Tony was grateful for the fresh air it calmed him somewhat.

Steve was already waiting at the table when he arrived; he smiled when he saw him and headed over to the table.

"Hey." Tony greeted him with a smile.

"Hi Tony, do you want to get anything or are you good?"

"Nah, I'm fine."

"Ok, so we need to talk."

"Yeah, do you want to like start?"

"No, you can." Steve smirked at Tony, playfully enjoying winding him up.

"Really, because I'll be honest with you Steve I really don't wanna go first." He laughed a little nervously, smiling up at Steve.

"I made the move to ask you here, now you can talk first." Steve tilted his head slightly, putting on his best bitch face. He'd obviously been taking lessons from that Sam Winchester kid on Supernatural.

"Fine then, Steve I'm really sorry about what I did, honestly I am. I wish I could turn back the clock and start over again, but I can't can I?"

"I believe you."

"What?"

"About you being sorry, I believe you are truly sorry."

"And?"

"I think it would be good if I spent a couple of days at the hotel, just to work some things out Peter can come and visit if he wants." Steve ran his hand through his perfect blonde hair, messing it up slightly but he still looked flawless.

"Yeah he's going around yours after school right?"

"I think so, anyway how are you?" Steve smiled kindly at Tony, it was so sweet and Tony just wanted to grab his face and kiss him but he couldn't, which killed him. Seeing Steve face to face like this was actually quite upsetting, Steve didn't look well and Tony wanted to make things better for him, with cuddles and kisses and ice cream but he couldn't because after this Steve would go to his hotel and Tony would go to his empty tower. Well, Pepper would probably be there for him. She was being really supportive of Tony.

"I'm coping, better than I thought I would actually. Peter's a big help, he really wants us to make up you know?"

"Yeah I know seeing as he was the one that came up with this idea the other day. I'm happy to hear that you're ok Tony, I was worrying about you. You haven't drunk any alcohol, have you?"

"No, I haven't. I was going to the morning after you left, I was on my way out to buy some but Pepper stopped me. Since then she has been watching me like a hawk." Tony smiled.

"I'm glad." Steve sighed, looking down.

"What about you?" Tony asked curiously.

"Hmm?"

"How are you dealing with it? I mean we haven't exactly been apart very long but we used to be inseparable." Tony smiled, remembering when Steve insisted on them going everywhere with each other when they could.

"Fine, yeah um fine." Tony could see Steve was lying, he did this cute little thing when he lied; he would fiddle with his thumbs and his ears usually went bright red.

"Steve," Steve tilted his head slightly, urging Tony to continue. "Are you fine though?" Tony reached out tentatively to hold Steve's hand. He was surprised and a little shocked when he violently jerked away.

"Tony, I don't need you I'm fine ok? Why does everyone keep asking me that? I am fine; do I need to spell it out for you? I am ok." Steve slammed down some money to cover his drink before storming out of the café. Tony waited for a moment before rushing out, following Steve's general direction. He was nowhere to be seen, great. He started walking down the street, checking every dingy alleyway. He searched for about ten minutes before he found Steve crouched in a dark alley, head between his knees.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N - Part two! I just wanted to write some smut, so here you go! Don't like it don't read it - thanks for the reviews!**

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"Hey Steve," Tony soothed "d'you mind if I sit here?" Tony was crouching opposite Steve in the small alley, their knees nearly touching.

"Go away Tony." Steve mumbled to the ground.

"Sorry, can't do that bud." Tony could've sworn Steve smiled, although it was brief, it was there.

"This isn't how people are supposed to break up." Steve lifted his head for a split second, before resting it back between his knees.

"Everyone does it differently Steve, and everyone deals with it differently." Tony shrugged, remembering the shell he went into when Pepper broke up with him, when he started drinking a lot more than anyone should. Eventually Steve came along and dragged him out of it, and now, now he wanted to stay out of it.

"I'm not supposed to want to kiss you and hug you and just hold you all the time, but I do. I want to be angry at you for what you did but I can't because every time I see you I forget everything I want to say and I just act like an idiot."

"I'll stay away from you, so you have space to think, I won't text or call unless it's an emergency." Tony was standing up to leave, when Steve grabbed him by the arm.

"No." Steve pulled him back down and crushed their lips together, it was filled with pent up passion and frustration. Steve was fisting at his hair and Tony had his arms wrapped around Steve's waist. Tony lost his balance and fell over into the mud; Steve was on him again, kissing him slower this time but still the same amount of passion, fumbling to undo the zipper on Tony's jeans. He eventually managed to undo it, shoving his hand down Tony's boxers. Tony gasped at Steve's cold hands before relaxing again. Something in his brain clicked and he realised things were getting too far. He grabbed Steve's wrist, pulling Steve off of himself.

"Steve you don't want to do this, we have to stop."

"Do you want to do it?"

"Well yeah, of course but Steve-" He was silenced by Steve kissing him fiercely, mainly teeth not lips.

"We're both consenting then, what's the problem?" _Since when had Steve gotten so dirty? _Before being with Tony the guy was a 90 year old virgin who couldn't say sex without blushing, and now he wanted to do it in some dark alleyway where anybody could be watching them.

Steve pushed him back down carefully, before replacing his hand on Tony's cock. He was getting increasingly hard in Steve's hand; it took every ounce of strength in his body not to buck his hips to get Steve to start fucking moving. Tony blindly pawed at Steve's trousers; Steve released his hand from Tony's cock, grabbed Tony's hand and shoved it down Steve's boxers. Tony started stroking Steve with long and slow strokes. Steve seemed to get the hint and started moving in time with Tony's hand. Steve looked beautiful, completely lost in what they were doing. Steve started making sweet keening noises and rocked into Tony's hand, he picked up the pace biting back a moan as Steve mimicked him.

Tony knew what they were doing was wrong, and he should stop Steve but he just couldn't. It was the same thing with the girl at the convention, when anything to do with sex is involved Tony thinks with his dick not his brain.

Steve was kissing him again, and he could barely give back but Steve was doing enough for the both of them. Tony was thinking way too much, a part of him was saying to relax and enjoy it another part said to try and tell Steve to stop and a very small part told him to just shove Steve off him. But he didn't want to. He wanted to enjoy it and savour every moment he had with Steve because he meant that much to Tony and this might be the last time they do something like this, even if it was just a sleezy back alley hand job.

He could feel his orgasm building up inside of him, Steve tensed up and Tony realised he was close too. "S-steve I'm gonna-" was the best warning he could give.

"Same." Steve replied, bending down to kiss Tony again, Steve wanted dominance and Tony gave it to him, he let Steve explore his mouth, with a few playful nips here and there. Steve pecked him softly on the lips before speeding up his pace even more. Tony couldn't hold back the groan that escaped his lips as he desperately tried to keep the same pace as Steve. Tony was coming all over Steve's hand, Steve followed soon after. He wiped the come on his jeans, not really caring what anyone thought, he was already muddy from the dirt in the alley. Steve had moved off of Tony and was sitting crossed legged, leaning against the wall. Steve obviously regretted what they had done, and Tony did too, just a little bit.

"That was a mistake." Steve confirmed what Tony was thinking, this is definitely not how usual breakups went.

"I was dreading you'd say that." Tony sat down next to him, still recovering. He felt sticky and horrible, he just wanted to go home and get changed but he needed to make sure Steve was alright.

"Can we decide to only see each other when we're Captain America and Iron Man?"

"Yeah alright, that sounds better than breaking up the Avengers to me. Have you told anyone that we're taking a break from each other?"

"No I haven't really spoken to any of them, have you?"

"Pepper, of course and I went out for a drink with Bruce and told him a couple of nights ago, is that ok?"

"Yeah, fine, so I guess he didn't turn into a giant angry green rage monster?" Steve laughed, despite there being a real probability Bruce would've flipped out and hurt Tony. He noticed the silver necklace hanging around Steve's neck; he had given them to him on their one year anniversary.

"You still wear your dog tags?" Tony was surprised at that; he'd thought Steve would've taken them off. Although he wasn't planning on taking his bracelet off until the very end of their relationship.

"Mhm, they make me feel safe plus we still haven't properly broken up yet have we?"

"No, I kind of erm-hope you won't have to take them off." _Awkward. _Tony didn't mean to say anything like that, it just came out wrong.

"I just need some time to think, but I know you're sorry. It's that we argue a lot anyway and it's not fair on you, me or Peter, space is a good thing." They did argue quite a bit, but it was over little things like what they were having for dinner or one of the bothering the other. It would always end up the same way though, cuddling on the couch watching some cheesy chick flick.

"You never answered my question." He looked at Steve, he looked rough. Tony could guess the answer to the question, but he wanted to make sure he was right.

"Huh?"

"Are you ok?"

"Truth?"

"Truth."

Steve sighed before throwing his head back against the wall. "I'm not ok Tony; I can't stay away from you. I have to hide my phone so I won't text or call you so we can just talk about nothing. I hated falling asleep without you beside me and I hated waking up without you. Tony I am so mad at you but when I'm away from you I feel so lonely, as lonely as I felt when I woke up from the ice. When I'm with you I just want to kiss you and urgh, which kind of explains why I'm like swimming in my own come right now which is really uncomfortable, I must really love you I mean seriously this feels disgusting." Tony started giggling, he couldn't help himself. "Don't laugh Tony! I'm angry at you and when you laugh you are cute. Tony, stop!" That just made Tony laugh even more, winding up Steve was his favourite hobby. "Tony no! Ugh we're terrible at breakups! Okay I am leaving now Tony. For god's sake stop laughing! I'm meant to be angry at you, Tony I was telling you about my feelings, quit it!" Steve was standing at the opening of the alley now, obviously trying to stop himself from laughing.

"Ok, ok Steve. I'll stop, erm-you should go change so you're not quote 'swimming in your own come' have a fun taxi ride back." Tony smirked, standing up. "I'll see you when an alien decides to attack America."

"Bye Tony." Steve smiled fondly as Tony started walking back towards Stark Tower. Tony spinned around as he forgot to tell Steve something, Steve was still there, watching him. It was a little creepy, granted.

"Getting a nice view of my ass there Cap?"

"Huh? Yeah oh, I mean no. No I was not staring at your ass."

"Sure and by the way you have to feed Peter real food tonight because when he's with me he'll just be getting ready meals."

"Yeah, I'll make him something nice." With that Tony turned around and continued to walk back to the tower.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N - Sorry, it's just a short chapter tonight! Review if you're unhappy about anything :) thanks for the follows & faves!**

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When he got back to the tower Pepper was still there, working probably. She smiled at him as he entered, but he ignored it, he had to process what had just happened. Steve was so ugh. He got some water and gulped down the glass in less than five seconds. He started pacing around the kitchen, worried and confused until he remembered he still hadn't changed from earlier. He rushed out of the kitchen and headed to the bedroom, most of Steve's clothes had gone now, but there were a few t-shirts and old, scrawny trousers. He cleaned himself up and changed into some dark jeans and a vest with a hoodie thrown over the top. He shuffled out of his room and flopped down next to Pepper on the couch.

"Want to talk about it?" She asked kindly, closing her laptop.

"Steve's so damn confusing." Tony huffed.

"What do you mean?" Pepper shuffled closer to Tony on the couch.

"One minute he was shouting at me and the next he had me pinned to the floor kissing me."

"Wait – What? I thought you were just going out for coffee to see if you could fix this?"

"Well he kind of flipped out and stormed off so I went to go find him, I told him I would leave him alone for a while because he obviously didn't want to talk about fixing things then he grabbed me and kissed me then I fell over then other things happened. Then the other things stopped happening and he said it was a mistake and that we should just see each other when we're being superheroes and I agreed. Then he tried talking about his feelings again but I started laughing then he started getting angry but like jokey angry and then I left." Tony shrugged, running a hand through his already messy hair. "That's about it."

"You laughed when he started talking to you about how he felt?" Pepper practically screamed at him, or it was just his headache.

"He said he must love me very much because he was 'swimming in his own come' how was I supposed to not laugh?" Tony started chuckling to himself, remembering the sad puppy look on Steve's face.

"It's not that funny Tony." Pepper scolded.

"C'mon it's pretty hilarious."

"No."

"You suck."

"Well I'm glad you're feeling okay-ish enough to insult me, you seemed pretty frantic when you walked in."

"People confuse me."

"Yeah, I've noticed."

They spent the rest of the day bickering about their company, at one point it stopped being quite so fun when Tony sent an email to some investors which simply said "tony's gaaaaaay xxxx" although the whole world already knew that Tony Stark was bi and that he was currently dating Captain America (well the public still thought they were, honestly Tony didn't know what they were doing.) Pepper was not impressed, for some reason unknown to Tony. Pepper spent half an hour lecturing him about responsibilities before Tony said sorry and that he wouldn't do it again. At around four he texted Peter to make sure he was at Steve's.

**Tony: You get to Steve's ok?**

**Peter: Yeah, quit worrying.**

**Tony: I'm only being responsible.**

**Peter: Responsible doesn't suit you.**

**Tony: What time do you plan on getting back?**

**Peter: Steve said I could stay the night, if that's cool with you?**

**Tony: Yeah just don't be late for school in the morning.**

**Peter: Awesome!**

Pepper cooked both of them dinner, it was rabbit food which was totally not the food of heroes but he ate it anyway. It was nice to eat something which wasn't a takeaway or cooked in a microwave, it reminded him of Steve. Pepper insisted on staying the night while Peter was at Steve's so he slept on the couch despite Peppers protests.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N - Sorry I didn't post the next chapter last night - my internet died. Hope this is worth the wait.**

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The next week went really slowly, Tony was getting increasingly lonely without seeing or hearing from Steve, but this is what they had agreed right? To give each other space. It was meat to relax them before they started worrying about seeing whether they could fix things. Peter kept visiting to keep Steve company and from what Tony heard he was doing well.

When Tony was just about to text or call Steve to arrange to meet up and work things out properly a god send came. Literally. Loki had managed to release a pack of dragon bird things through another portal, Thor claimed it was an accident, which was obviously a lie. Having to wake up to a grumpy phone call from Fury did have one benefit though; Tony would get to see Steve.

He told Pepper to take Peter to the basement under Stark tower, where they would both be safe. Then he suited up and flew to the coordinates Fury had sent to JARVIS. Everyone was there except Dr Banner, who would be called if the Hulk was needed. There were about 20 dragony bird hybrid things dotted around the area. They hadn't wandered far from where the portal had closed which made it a bit easier. All the civilians had been evacuated so the Avengers had space and time on their side.

Steve, well, Captain America commanded Tony to fly Clint up to one of the roof tops to take out the birds which were perched up there. Clint shot at a couple of the birds but it only made them angry, Tony fired his repulsors which only seemed to leave small burn marks. _Perfect._

"Thor, Dr Banner. Any idea how to take out these bird brains?" Tony asked over the com line.

"Sorry Tony, I've never dealt with dragons before. Have you tried shooting it in the eye? That's a general weak spot for any species."

"Yes, man of iron. The good doctor is correct, aim anything at the beast's eyes."

Clint aimed an arrow at the hybrids eye, it hit. The dragon thingy let out a squawk of pain before collapsing.

"Well what the hell am I supposed to do?" Steve shouted through the com, it was nice to hear his voice again.

"Get a gun and shoot." Fury said cooly.

Tony found Steve on the ground; Natasha was throwing him a small hand gun. Tony turned off his public com line and flew off of the building before Clint could say anything.

"JARVIS, keep me updated on Steve's health stats, whereabouts and general status every five minutes. If anything starts to go balls up at his end tell me."

"Yes sir. Would you like me to turn on your public com line?"

"Please."

There was a click and he could hear everything again. Thor was taking out a handful of birds, Steve and Nat were working together on the ground, Clint had cleared the building and was moving on.

Tony was checking the area from the skies, everything was being handled well. He spotted a cluster of the hybrids and was aiming a repulsor at them when he heard a blood curdling screech from behind. He turned swiftly but it was already too late, he felt the talons crush his suit and pierce his skin before he was falling to the ground. Tony hit the ground with a heavy thud, he heard Steve screaming at him through the com to stay awake and to say something.

"S-steve?" Tony whispered.

"Tony I will be with you in two seconds, stay awake. Don't worry baby."

"I love y-you Steve."

"Don't you dare give up Tony if you do I'm going to be so mad at you when we get home."

Tony chuckled softly and smiled to himself, he heard someone running towards him, probably Steve. His faceplate was ripped off, he winced at the light. Steve gently picked up Tony's head and rested it on his lap.

"Hey." Tony croaked.

"Keep talking to me Tony, tell me about how 3D films work or how you built JARVIS or something, anything. Please." Clint was there now too and he could just about see Nat running towards them, Thor was finishing off the birds.

"You better make me something nice for dinner tonight."

Steve smiled warmly and it was so cute Tony wanted to be able to lean up and kiss him, but he could barely lift a finger.

"What do you want?"

"Bacon."

Steve laughed and Tony tried to but it hurt too much, he felt his eyes shutting.

"Tony, Tony! Eyes open, don't make me slap you because you know I will. C'mon talk."

He pried his eyes open and he could hear sirens in the background, no doubt an ambulance. He really didn't need a doctor, he would be fine, he just needed a little time. Ok maybe he needed a hand with the holes in his stomach and the crippling headache.

"Are you still pissed off at me?"

"Yeah I am and we're going to talk about it when we get home but I am going to be even angrier if you die on me."

"Tell Peter to be good and tell Pepper to get laid."

"You can tell them yourself later."

"Sorry about everything." Tony's throat was dry and he could barely speak.

"Quit talking like you're going to die, I'm not going to let you die. Please Tony, you're scaring me."

"Steve if-if I don't make it-"

"Don't you fucking dare say things like that, you're going to make it, we'll go home and then I'll shout at you for making me so worried."

"Steve the medics are here." He could hear Nat's cool and calm voice, it must be horrible for his friends seeing him like this but at least she could remain professional.

"Thanks Natasha. Tony, these people will look after you ok?"

"Captain Rogers give Mr Stark some space please." He could hear the medics buzzing around him, but his eyes were set on Steve.

"I've got to go Tony, I will see you later." Steve pressed a kiss to Tony's lips, Tony's eyes were barely open now.

"Sorry." Tony whispered as Steve was leaving. He was surrounded by strangers who were poking and prodding at him, sticking needles in his arms and telling him to stay awake and keep talking. He couldn't be bothered to talk to anyone that wasn't Steve though. He shut his eyes completely now, he heard machines beeping and Steve screaming at the medics to let him through before everything went black.


	9. Chapter 9 - Part 1

**A/N -So I'm going to d this bit n two parts because it's fairy long. Hope you like it!**

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Tony could hear everything around him, he heard the doctors telling Steve they had done all they could, he heard Clint blaming himself and worst of all he heard Steve crying. He couldn't move or speak, he could only listen.

The doctors told Steve that it was the fall that did most of the damage and that the holes in his chest and stomach would heal smoothly, the talons didn't puncture any of his organs but they did crack 3 of his ribs. The one thing they had to concentrate on was getting him out of the coma, which only Tony could do. He tried to wake up, he really did. He wanted to be able to hug Steve and tell him everything was ok, he wanted to tell Clint that it wasn't his fault and he wanted to find out why the fuck he was in a coma.

"Steve, do you want anything to eat?" Natasha was talking now; Tony had no idea what time it was but could be morning, noon or night because that's when people normally eat. So basically it could be any time.

"N-no it's fine. I'll stay with Tony." Shit Steve was crying again.

"You need to eat Steve; do you want us to bring something up?" Bruce sounded pretty rough, well his best friend was lying in a coma.

"Ok, if you don't mind. Sorry I'm being a right pain. I'll come if you want?"

"It's no trouble Steve, text us if anything happens. We'll be back in around twenty minutes." Tony heard numerous people leaving; he guessed it was Nat, Clint, Bruce and Thor. Strangely Thor hadn't talked a lot since they had got to the hospital but he knew he was there because he heard nurses telling him he couldn't bring his hammer in. It wasn't like Thor to be quiet, Tony couldn't remember why he was in hospital, but it must've been something to do with Loki if Thor was silent.

"Hey Tony, just you and me now, the doctors say you can hear us. Guess I'll have to do the talking for two right? Funny, that's usually you." Steve sighed and Tony heard him pull a chair towards his bed. "You probably want to know some stuff don't you? Erm- Pepper and Peter are safe." _Thank god. _"Pepper's pretty shaken up and um, Peter is not really talking. They were here earlier but the doctors wouldn't let anyone see you because they needed to stitch you up and get you comfortable so they left, Coulson is looking after them so don't worry. Oh and you have two more scars to add to your collection, they're pretty big as well." _Just brilliant. _"Thor managed to kill the rest of the birds after you got attacked, but don't worry I got the one that hurt you." Ok, so he was attacked by birds, the Avengers were called for a bunch of rabid pigeons? That didn't sound feasible.

Tony heard the door open and Steve stopped talking it was most likely a nurse come to stick some needles in his arm or something.

"How's he doing?" Steve asked politely.

"Well his condition hasn't deteriorated, but he's still not out of the woods. He should wake up in a week, two at most. If he doesn't we might have to rethink some things. The er-holes are healing as we expected, but so far it's way too early to tell."

"Ok, thank you. He will survive won't he?"

"Tony Stark has survived way worse. I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Thanks."

The door shut meaning either the nurse had left or his friends had returned. He guessed it was the nurse leaving seeing as someone had stopped probing him.

"Did you hear that Tony? You just need to come out of this stupid coma." _I'm trying pretty fucking hard Steve; cut me some slack. _"Sorry erm- you probably want to know why you're in a coma in the first place and why you have some holes in your chest, right?" _That would be useful._ "Basically Loki released some dragon bird things, they were pretty huge and we still don't know what they are. Thor has no idea what they are; Loki must've made them or something. One of them got you while you were flying and its talons ripped through the suit and uh- into you. Then it dropped you, I don't know from how high but you hit your head badly so, that's why you're lying in a coma, I think. I didn't really see but that's what we've pieced together." _Great his suit was fucked, he didn't know which one he was using but each one was pretty special and would take weeks to rebuild. _"I bet the only thing you took from that was your suit is broken. Well, wake up and you can fix it." _Steve knew him too damn well. _

"Look Tony, I really miss you. When you come out of this coma we need to talk a few things through, but I promise I won't get angry. I still love you Tony, and I hope you still love me. I know that you only slept with that girl because you felt alone and sometimes you can't control yourself. I understand that, Tony I love you more than anything and when I'm away from you, I don't know – It kind of feels – it feels wrong. I love you Tony and I'm sorry it took you going into coma for me to talk to you again." Tony felt Steve press a kiss to his temple before probably sitting back down, Steve was probably reading a book or something as the room remained silent for what Tony estimated to be five minutes.


	10. Chapter 9 - Part 2

**A/N - So here's the part two of chapter 9! Hope you like it, feel free to review :)**

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"Hi Steve, we're back." He could hear Clint kick the door open; presumably he was using his hands to carry food. "Any change?"

"No, the nurse said his body needs a week or two to recover before he wakes up or something."

"What if he doesn't wake up?"

"Clint!" Numerous voices said in unison, he guessed it was Bruce, Natasha and Thor.

"You do realise he can probably hear us?" That voice belonged to Steve.

"Oh shit, sorry Tony. How's it hanging bro, sorry I put you in a coma, I should've stopped you."

"Language and Clint, it's not your fault, it's nobody's fault." Definitely Steve.

"Anyway Steve, we brought you a burger." He thought that was Bruce trying to relax the situation, but he wasn't that sure.

"Thanks Bruce." _Bingo._

"Steve I erm- I'm really sorry about Tony, I know you guys weren't on the best of terms before this happened."

"Thanks yeah, it's made me realise a few things. God this is just like a cheesy film."

"When aren't our lives though?" He heard Bruce laugh softly and Steve was probably smiling. God Tony missed his perfect smile.

"Sorry to interrupt, but what do you mean not on the best of terms? Were you and Tony having an argument?" That was Natasha, but Clint and Thor were probably wondering the same thing.

"We were spending some time away from each other."

There were a few grumbles which included whys and what's before Bruce interrupted them.

"Look guys, I'm sure Steve has a few more things on his mind than why he and Tony split up."

"It's fine, we should've told you guys before. I'm sorry, I was busy with Fury pestering me and I knew Tony told Bruce and I thought he would've said something to you guys too." _That's right Steve, pin the blame on the guy in the coma._

"Wait Bruce knew?" Clint sounded like a jealous child.

"Yeah he did, what do you guys actually want to know?"

"Why did you guys break up?" Clint rushed before anyone else could say anything. _He was so damn nosey._

"First off we didn't actually break up; we were just spending some time apart to think things through and erm- this is where it gets a little difficult."

"Steve you don't have to tell them, you should do it when Tony can be with you." _Yep, that would be nice. Steve please pay attention to Bruce._

"Is it really bad, not just some stupid falling out?" _Yes Natasha, I cheated on him. It's pretty serious._

"Well, yeah."

"Oh sorry Steve, I didn't realise."

"It's ok; I think I've forgiven him. I know I still love him which is pretty stupid after what he did." _True._

"It is pretty stupid but if you're happy Steve - I really wanted to punch him when he told me." _Oh jeez, thanks Bruce. How kind of you to the guy in the coma._

"That bad huh?" Natasha always wanted to punch Tony in the face anyway; god knows what she'll do when Steve tells her. She was like a sister to Steve; they had become really good friends after Steve came out of the ice. They also had the shared interest of bitching about their boyfriends when they thought they couldn't hear.

"Yeah, but as I've said I've forgiven him and I know that he regrets it and all the other stuff. I really want to make it work; I just need to tell him this when he can respond. I guess he'll forget all the stuff he can hear when he wakes up." _Wait, what. No_! Tony was getting some really juicy gossip about Steve which would help him out later on.

"Can I guess?" Clint always had to turn things into a game didn't he?

"I said I would tell you, but please remember that Tony can't exactly defend himself and if you're going to get angry at him, do it when he wakes up, please."

"Yeah, yeah ok. No getting pissed at Stark while he's sleeping beauty." As soon as he woke up he was going to kiss Steve and then slap Clint. Ok maybe he would have to work on walking before he could slap Clint and he wasn't entirely sure Steve would want to kiss him back.

"Steve you don't have to do this." Bruce was a good best friend, Tony had chosen him wisely.

"Thanks Bruce, but I may as well. They were going to find out sooner or later." He heard Steve sighing before he continued. "Tony cheated on me."

"What?!"

"I know it sounds bad but-"

"Tony, what the actual fuck, seriously? If I had a guy or a girl or whatever half as good as Steve I would never in a million years cheat – oh shit, sorry Nat I was trying to make a point."

"It's fine Clint." Wow, Natasha was seriously pissed, Clint probably didn't even get a scratch and he just called her a mediocre girlfriend. "How are you ok with that Steve? Why didn't you just dump him straight away, I know I would've."

"It is true, good Captain. On Asgard we do not tolerate any form of what you call 'cheating' it is highly frowned upon, you would lose all respect within our realm. The partner who has cheated would definitely be erm, what do you say? Dumped." Ok Thor had now lost all respect for him, today was going great.

"Nat, you know the feeling you get when you see Clint? He just makes you happy even though he puts you through buckets of shit. I know you know what I'm talking about; you've told me about it before. Clint, the same with you, when you are with Nat she just makes you feel good, doesn't she?"

"Well, yeah." Clint and Natasha said in unison, freaky.

"Thor, Loki almost killed Coulson and Tony now, not to mention plenty of civilians, but you've forgiven him right?"

There was no vocal response but Tony guessed Thor was nodding or something.

"Exactly, I love Tony and you might think it's crazy after what he did, I even think it's crazy but I do. I don't want to get over him or anything like that, I want to make it work and I want him to be happy and I want to be happy. Look, he didn't even know the girls name and as soon as he was home he told me straight away and he knew what he did was wrong. You can think what you like, and you can say what you like but I'm always going to stand up for Tony and I'm the one he cheated on. Oh and I have no plans for dumping him, yes I'm going to stay here overnight, no I'm not ok and I'll text you if anything happens, so I hope that answers all your questions. Thanks for the food; can you all go now, please?"

Tony loved Steve so much, he is the kindest person Tony knew and the best boyfriend he could ever hope to ask for. Steve is amazing, Tony didn't deserve him in the slightest but Steve wanted him and that makes Tony unbelievably happy.

"Sorry Steve, I guess we thought you'd be angry with him." _So did I._

"If Clint was in Tony's position and he had just done something really bad to you, would you still be angry?"

"No, I wouldn't."

"I just want Tony to wake up so I can talk to him. This isn't like – like a one off relationship; I want to make it work no matter what, I hope he does too." _Yes, I do Steve! I love you so much, I'm so sorry._

"We should go, it's getting pretty late." Bruce stepped in.

"What time is it?" That was Steve, he sounded like he was crying again.

"Nearly midnight." Wow, the hospital had let the whole of the Avengers team stay past visiting hours? I suppose when you have an Asgardian God in your party you can get VIP treatment wherever you go.

"Bye Steve, I'm sorry about Tony." That was Natasha.

"Cya mate, text us if anything happens. We'll be right over." Clint.

"I bid you farewell, good Captain." Thor.

"I'll come over tomorrow; do you want me to say anything to Pepper or Peter?" Bruce.

"Tell Peter I love him and say thanks to Pepper for looking after him."

"Alright, sorry Steve, I know this must be really difficult."

"Thanks Bruce."

He heard his friends leaving and Steve didn't talk for a good ten minutes, Tony didn't know if he was eating, sleeping or just watching. Steve yawned cutely, so that meant he was still awake.

"Hey, Tony, you listening buddy?" _Yep. _"Tony, I'm going to go to sleep, but if you wake up promise you'll wake me up. I don't want you feeling alone, because I know what that did to me. I love you baby, g'night." _I love you too._


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N - This is just a load of Steve and Peter talking but oh well - I hope you like it!**

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That night was terrible for Tony, nobody was talking, just the constant buzz of the machines around him, he would feel scared if he didn't know Steve was there. Although it did give him time to think about everything, what he would say to Steve and how he would make everything ok again, using his words not his money. When he ran out of things to think about he felt worried and anxious, he couldn't defend himself or Steve if anything came to attack them which made him feel useless. Tony usually cursed Steve's early rising, when he'd get out of bed, go for a jog, come back, shower then try and coax Tony into consciousness using coffee and kisses but right now, he was thankful for it.

"Hmph, I'm going to go get a coffee Tony. I think Pepper and Peter might be coming to visit today, I'll write you a note in case you wake up, I will be ten minutes." He heard Steve scribbling on a piece of paper before Steve kissed him on the cheek, pushed the hair out of his eyes and left the room.

While he was going Steve's phone kept vibrating which was super annoying because Tony was thinking about how Peter was and if he was keeping up with his school work, if Gwen was alright, if he was ok and the constant buzzing of his phone kept distracting him.

"I'm back, guess you didn't wake up. Sorry Tony, erm- take your time waking up, just make sure you do ok? I really want to see you smile, hear you talk and just uh- everything you do Tony. I love all of it, I love you."

They were in silence for a good half an hour and Tony thought he had fallen asleep but then Steve talked again.

"Pepper is bringing Peter over to the hospital, he's going to take the day off school, but don't worry he's going to bring his school work. Pepper texted me to say they should be arrive at like eleven, so that's like wait - fifteen, twenty, twenty five, thirty, thirty five, an hour and thirty five minutes-ish." _Congratulations Steve, you can do maths._

For the next five minutes Steve talked about how lots of people want to come and visit him, how Steve wants to move back into Stark tower if it's ok with Tony, which of course, it is and also Steve talked about the book he was reading, which was nice because he used to do that over breakfast when both of them didn't have a lot on, it reminded Tony of home. Then Pepper and Peter arrived, that broke his heart.

"Hey Steve, how's he doing?" Pepper sounded sad, like she had been crying for hours. Nobody else could tell, but Tony could.

"As good as he can be in his condition, how have you been?" Steve sighed; his voice was quieter so he was probably standing up so Pepper could sit down.

"Worrying, thinking, you know. How long did the others stay last night?"

"Until midnight, they tried to kick us out a couple of times but Thor just waved him hammer around a bit, after the third time of being cursed they left us alone." Steve laughed softly; Tony couldn't remember any of that but it must've been pretty hilarious.

"Embarrassing?" _Probably._

"Honestly, I was concentrating on not crying in front of the nurses." Steve laughed again but both Tony and Pepper knew he wasn't lying, Peter probably knew as well but he hadn't said anything yet so Tony didn't even know if he was there.

"Steve, do you want to go get your laptop or something while we're here? I will text you straight away if he wakes up."

"That would be great Pepper, thank you." Steve left so it was just Pepper and Peter.

Pepper talked to Tony about lots of different things, how they had lost three investors from Tony's little e-mail prank and how she really missed him. She told him about how she met a guy a couple of days ago which she had been keeping a secret, apparently they really hit it off and he was super cute, but Tony would be the judge of that.

Steve came back with his laptop and he talked to Pepper for a bit before she had to go and deal with some meetings and the press. Apparently Tony Stark falling into a coma is kind of a bid deal. He felt sorry for Pepper, she was really upset but she had to put on a brave face for the public.

"Peter?" He knew Peter hadn't been talking a lot and he hadn't said anything yet, but maybe Steve could get something out of him. "Peter c'mon, talk to me. Fine, I'm going to get you a drink maybe you'll talk to Tony." Steve huffed before leaving. There was two minutes of silence before Tony heard rustling of papers; it was Peter putting away his work.

"Tony, I'm sorry that you and Steve had a fight, I should've tried harder to fix things." _Peter it's not your fault. _"I caused this didn't I?" _How could you have possibly caused this? _"If I hadn't come along and started sticking my nose into things and make you guys look after me and have fights you wouldn't have gotten bored, so you wouldn't have cheated, then if you and Steve weren't in an argument you would've worked together so Steve could've covered your back and you wouldn't be in a coma and you could've died. It's all my fault." _That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard._

"Peter, that's just not true." Thank god Steve had come back to talk some sense into him.

"I thought you had gone?" Peter sniffed.

"Yeah and now I've come back, Peter how is this your fault? You were at school when it happened, you had nothing to do with our argument and I'm fairly sure your name's not Loki Laufeyson so you didn't release the dragons."

"It just is, ok? I should've made you two make up not sitting around doing nothing."

"No Peter, it's not ok. Look, I know you want to blame yourself, but it's not your fault. And definitely don't blame yourself for me and Tony not getting back together or even breaking up in the first place."

There was a pause for a very uncomfortable minute, which Tony would've filled with a snarky remark, but of course he couldn't talk.

"Steve?" Peter was using the voice for when he wanted something really badly, oh god. He's going to ask Steve the question.

"Yeah?"

"Are you and Tony going to properly break up?"

"Well, at least you're talking." Steve sighed. "I don't know, I mean I still love him and he was the first person I've ever had feelings for, apart from Peggy, but that was in the 40s, I don't think it's worth giving that up over him erm- sleeping with someone." _Is that a no?_

"You're starting to sound like Gwen."

"You know you can talk about feelings and stuff without being a girl."

"Pfft, whatever. Anyway did you get that drink or just spy?"

"Yeah I got you a chocolate milkshake, sandwich and a packet of chips. I thought you might be getting hungry." Tony heard a bag being scrunched up and presumably being shoved in a bin.

"Thanks."

"No problem, so, what work have you got?"

"Maths, English, and then revision for my Chemistry exam."

"Need any help?" You could hear Steve's smile in his voice.

"You can barely use a calculator, so I think I'm cool with Maths but English I'm a bit stuck on getting poetic devices out of this."

Steve chuckled and they were talking about metaphors, similes and personification for a while before their conversation got onto Gwen which was adorable but cringey.

"So, have you kissed yet?" Steve was smirking, Tony just knew it.

"Yeah, of course we have."

"Do you really like her?" _OhmygodStevestop._

"Yes, yes I do."

"Aw, that's cute. You should invite her round more."

"She does come round, but I sneak her in to save myself from embarrassment." Peter laughed.

"Compared to other people we're not actually that bad, I mean imagine Natasha as a mum."

"That would be scary, but Clint as a dad would be worse." _Agreed._

"Yeah, see you're fairly lucky."

"I guess I am."

For the rest of the day Steve helped Peter as much as he could with his homework and they talked about little things, like Tony's cooking, Peter's friend Wade and a rumour about Bruce proposing to Mary. Peter reckoned it was bullshit but Steve wasn't so sure, only two people knew the truth – Bruce and Tony. Steve was right to think there was some truth in it, Bruce was wandering and he had a ring but he eventually decided to wait a bit longer.

After Steve had brought McDonalds for dinner Pepper came back to pick Peter up and take him back to the tower. She was really happy when she realised Peter was talking again and whispered something to Steve as they were leaving which was really very super annoying because Tony only heard a couple of words.


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N - Just a short chapter so I can lead up to something, I hope you like it!**

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Then it was just him and Steve for what felt like a few days before they had a stream of visitors. Tony completely lost track of time after that, he may have been in a coma for weeks for all he knew seeing as Steve didn't really sleep and only ate once every so often, which made Tony angry because he shouldn't be doing that, Steve would be getting a telling off when Tony woke up, but it also meant that he had no idea what time it was or roughly how long he had been in a coma.

Bruce was one of the first to visit, he told Tony about his project and that he was really stuck on an equation, he told Tony it and of course he managed to work it out but he couldn't say anything or even move to write it down, being in a coma was starting to get fucking annoying.

Peter visited a lot, Tony thought it was every day after school seeing as he always had homework to do. Peter aced his chemistry test, but now he was concentrating on biology, but Tony knew he would ace that too. He was a smart kid and Tony was so proud of him, Steve was too, you could tell by the way he spoke about him.

Natasha and Clint visited for a couple of hours, they talked about their mission and how they could've really used Tony seeing as neither could fly and Thor wasn't the right person for the job and either was a helicopter. Tony guessed it may have been something discreet but of course there were confidentiality rules so they couldn't tell him.

Pepper visited a lot, and kept Tony updated on the company. Apparently his ideas had gone down well, surprisingly. They were going to donate more of their annual income to charity as Tony had suggested, because say what you like about Tony's extreme spending habits, but he was definitely not selfish with his money.

Thor visited to apologise about his brother's behaviour, he told Tony that Loki had been put back into the prisons on Asgard for at least ten years. Although this gave Tony some peace of mind that he wouldn't be attacked by a giant bird dragon thing he felt sorry for Thor. Tony was an only child but he always wanted a brother or sister to look out for and protect, Pepper was like a sister but it would never be the sort of bond Thor has with Loki.

A couple of news reporters managed to get in, Steve was as polite as he could be with someone nosing into his personal business before throwing them out the door in a gentlemanly fashion. One reporter got a photo of Tony but Steve took the camera and smashed it to pieces before apologising and offering to buy a new one.

Finally Rhodey visited a lot more than Tony would've expected, but then again he had always been there for Tony and said he always will be. He told Tony about this girl he met at a bar and how she had a "fine piece of ass" but apparently she was also clever and Rhodey had managed to get her number, somehow, poor girl. She came by the hospital once to meet Rhodey before they went off on a date, she sounded nice so Tony approved.


	13. Chapter 12 - Part 1

**A/N - I know it's cheesy and not medically accurate but oh well! I'm splitting this chapter in two parts too because it's quite long.**

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After what felt like an eternity of being in a coma Tony knew Steve was giving up hope, one day, after Peter had left Steve completely broke down.

"Tony please, I need you, please wake up. I can't deal with all of this, having to reassure Peter that you'll be alright because I don't know if you will be. I just want us to be – to be a family again, I want you to get better and I want to be able to kiss you and hug you and you to lean into it or just do something, please Tony, just wake up." He felt Steve take his hand and press a kiss to it, but it was a different feeling, not just knowing he was doing it but the feeling Tony could do something about it, pull back if he wanted to, or curl his fingers around Steve's.

"Tony I love you and I can't cope when you're like this, if you want to break up with me Tony fine, as long as you're ok and you're not in a coma. Everyone really misses you, I miss you, and I don't even know if you can hear me. But if you can Tony – please, just wake up." Tony felt Steve's tears splash onto his skin. He slowly locked his fingers with Steve's, and squeezed lightly. "Tony? Fuck, did that just happen or am I imagining things now?" A smile spread across Tony's features, even though his eyes were still shut. "You fucking ass hole."

Steve leaned over the bed and roughly kissed Tony on his lips, Steve felt warm and cosy so Tony relaxed quickly, leaning into the kiss he slowly moved his hand to the back of Steve's neck, and played with his hair. He kissed back as well as he could, but he was still weak. Steve pulled back and kissed everywhere on Tony's face he could reach, before resting their foreheads together. Tony opened his eyes to meet Steve's red, irritated ones, he looked like he had been crying a lot recently, he had bags under his eyes and his skin was slightly duller than usual.

"I love you so much, don't you ever fucking dare do that to me again." Steve breathed shakily before pecking Tony on the lips again. "I love you Tony, I love you, I love you, I love you."

"I love you too, Steve, more than anything." Tony managed to croak out. He looked around and he saw he was in a white room, but the light made his eyes go all fuzzy. "But, where am I?"

"Hospital, you've been in a coma. I should go and get a nurse." Steve stood up and turned to leave.

"No Steve, wait, please." Tony said as loud as he could, Steve must've heard because he turned around and sat back down on the bed. Tony wiped the tears that were falling from Steve's eyes away and pushed back Steve's hair before pulling him down again for another kiss. "You shouldn't have worried about me, I'm fine."

"Do you remember anything? You are far from fine Tony."

"Not a lot." Tony remembered being attacked by something, falling, and then it was all kind of a blur.

"I promise to tell you everything later, I need to get some help. I'll be two minutes." Steve kissed him again before pulling back and smiling at Tony.

"Love you." Tony whispered.

"You too."

Steve jogged out of the room, trying to find a nurse. Tony blinked a couple of times before looking around the room. There were flowers and cards and gifts dotted around the room, he picked up a card with a small bear holding a balloon which said 'Get well soon!' on it. Inside it read 'To Tony, I hope you get better soon, I really miss you. Bruce. P.S I'm still stuck on that equation.' Tony remembered Bruce visiting once and telling him the equation, Tony knew the answer, but he just couldn't remember it.


	14. Chapter 12 - Part 2

**A/N - So here's the second part of the waking up chapter. Thanks for the reviews/follows/favourites. Also I know Tony probably wouldn't be able to remember as much as h does but go along with it!**

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Steve soon came back with a nice looking nurse, she took him off one of the machines, shined some light in his eyes, propped him up so he was sitting up on the bed and added him onto another drip machine, Tony had no idea what it was for though. She talked to Steve outside for a while before rushing off to some other patient.

"Hey, basically you've got to stay here for a couple more days, and then we can go home, if that's alright with you?"

"Yeah of course it is." Tony smiled as warmly as he could, but he was actually pretty tired even though he'd just been in a coma for god knows how long.

"Tony, erm – how much do you remember of a couple of days before your accident?" Tony knew this topic was going to come up sooner or later, may as well get it over with now.

"Is that supposed to be a delicate way of asking if I remember cheating on you?"

"I guess." Steve shrugged.

"Steve, I'm really sorry, you know I'm not good with words, so I'm er sorry about that too, but not as sorry as I am about cheating on you. Like, me cheating on you is a big sorry but not being good with words is only a little sorry but it doesn't mean I don't mean it it's just not as important because you're the most important thing to me. For fucks sake, I'm such an idiot. Sorry Steve, I am really, truly sorry."

"I wasn't asking you to apologise Tony, I just wanted to know why you did it?" Steve deserved to know, but Tony didn't have a good answer. "If you thought you loved her and if you think you're getting bored of me Tony, we can break up, I don't want you staying in a relationship which you're unhappy in."

"No!" Tony tried to pull himself forwards as he said it, but he fell back against the bed as a crippling pain pushed through his stomach.

"Whoa, take it easy Tony, you were hurt pretty badly, try not to move too much without someone helping you, ok?"

"Steve I am a fully grown adult human being."

"Promise me you won't move."

"Fine." Tony sighed before continuing on from their previous conversation "Steve, I'm not bored of you, of course I'm not and I didn't love her, I still don't know her name."

"Then why did you do it, Tony?"

"Honestly, I don't have a good answer, I know you deserve one but I don't know what to say. I don't even know why I did it, I was just having a drink at a bar then she came up to me and yeah. I guess I felt lonely and reverted back to the days when I was single and just went along with it until it was too late."

"What were you drinking?"

"Water."

"I don't know if that makes it better or worse."

"Neither. Look, Steve, it didn't mean anything. I still love you, and I know that I definitely don't deserve you now, but I do love you."

"I love you too." Steve kissed him slowly, gently rubbing at the back of Tony's neck. Steve ran his tongue along Tony's bottom lip so Tony opened his mouth slightly, letting Steve close any gap between them. They parted and just stayed, looking at one another, occasionally pressing small kisses to each other's lips.

"You shouldn't." Tony smiled sadly, wishing Steve could have someone better than Tony. Steve just kissed him again softly, like he was trying not to break him.

"I don't care." Steve smiled as a tear ran down his cheek; he pushed Tony's hair back before pressing a kiss to his forehead. He wiped away his tears sat back down on a very uncomfortable looking chair. "So we're back together?"

"Yeah," Tony chuckled softly "yeah we are." He beamed, realising that they would probably be able to get back to how they used to be.

"I should probably text some people that you're awake."

"Mphm, I'll do it for you tomorrow, m'tired – can't be bothered to deal with crying and stuff."

"Loads of people were really worried about you Tony; I should tell them you're ok."

"They'll be asleep, like we should be. Now c'mon." Tony scooted over slightly in the hospital bed, so Steve could lie down on something more comfortable than the old shitty chair with springs hanging out of it.

"Tony, it's only 8pm."

"I'm tired." Tony yawned dramatically although it came to bite him back when an ache stretched through his abdomen for at least half an hour afterwards.

"You have been in a coma for three and a half weeks; don't you want to know anything?"

"Yeah, you can tell me everything, after we've slept."

Steve sighed and hopped into the bed, pressed up against Tony. One of his legs was barely on the bed but he don't seem to mind, Steve just wrapped an arm around Tony's shoulder and pulled him closer so Tony's head was resting on Steve's shoulder.

"I'm not going to sleep until you do, because no offence babe, but you look horrible." Tony said, nuzzling into Steve's neck, pressing a kiss to his pulse.

"Well you're the one that just came out of a coma; I think I should keep an eye on you."

"There are plenty of doctors and nurses who can do that so go to sleep." Tony put his hand over Steve's eyes and kissed his temple; Steve sighed and closed his eyes. Tony removed his hand from covering Steve's eyes and waited until Steve's breathing evened out and his features slackened. Tony lead over carefully, kissing his forehead and whispering "I love you."


	15. Chapter 13

**A/N - Sorry, it's not going to be very exciting when Tony's in hospital, but he should get out in a couple of chapters! Thank you for the reviews!**

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When Tony woke up Steve was still softly snoring next to him, he was really shattered. Tony guessed he hadn't been sleeping as much as he should've been while Tony was in a coma. Tony decided not to disturb him so he gingerly rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. An hour and a half later Steve woke up.

"Tony?" He yawned.

"Yeah?" Tony mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"What time is it?"

Tony glanced over at the clock; his eyes took a while to focus before he could read it.

"It's ten thirty-ish, why, are you planning on going somewhere?" Tony asked with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"No, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." _Phew._

"Good."

"You should probably eat something before you get bombarded with visitors, let me go check you can eat normal things."

Steve kissed Tony quickly before jumping off the bed and rushing out the room, he came back soon after with a not-so-nice looking nurse following him.

"Hello Mr Stark, we all thought that was it for you, no more genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, and no more Iron man. That would've been a shame, although I must say, I'm not your biggest fan." She said, replacing his IV and checking his blood pressure. He shot Steve an annoyed look, who returned an apologetic one.

"How so? Maybe I can fix it." He smiled, biting back a sarcastic remark.

"My daughter thinks it's fine to be gay because you are, she's idolised you since she was a girl, and now Tony Stark has come out as bi, she's decided she wants to kiss girls. So no, I don't think you can fix it." _What a fucking bitch._

"Surely you should support your daughter in his decision? It must be quite difficult for her, and if choosing Tony as a role model makes it easier for her, then you should support that too." Steve intercepted before Tony could say anything.

"Yes, well, she's living with his father now. For some reason he's perfectly ok with it. Anyway, if he is hungry he can eat; just avoid eggs, dairy and fast food. An apple or something and a cereal bar from the shop would be the best thing. Sorry if it's not up to your standards, we know you're used to the highest quality, Mr Stark."

"Actually usually my boyfriend cooks, and he isn't exactly the best chef in the world." Tony made sure he put extra emphasis on 'boyfriend'.

"Hey! You say you like my food!" Steve called from the corner of the room.

"Yeah, it's nice but sometimes it's a little black."

"That is totally on purpose, it gives the food more erm- flavour." Steve smiled, trying to contain his laughter.

"Don't worry handsome, your looks makes up for your lack of skills in the kitchen."

"I'm better at cooking than you are anyway, you can barely use a toaster." Steve sneered jokily.

"Er – excuse you – I can use a toaster. Pepper taught me." Tony chuckled softly.

"So yeah, fruit and a cereal bar. He's doing well, if things keep improving like this he should be able to go home in a few days." The nurse interrupted their mock argument.

"Thank you." Steve said through his teeth and opened the door for her to leave. Once she was completely out of earshot his mask of niceness dropped.

"I know right? What a fucking homophobic cow."

"Tony, watch your language."

"I'm pretty sure you swore at least three times last night."

"I had my reasons." Steve shrugged.

"So did I! She's horrible, poor kid. At least the father is accepting. You know, society is so messed up. I mean if a girl likes a girl or a guy likes a guy then what's the big deal? Some people are just so fu- sorry, just so close minded. It drives me up the wall. Also she practically called me snobby."

"I know Tony, try not to let things like that get to you, people are always going to object to things that aren't what they're used to. I'm going to go get you something to eat, if you're hungry? Text Pepper and Peter to tell them you're awake. Oh, you might want to message Bruce and Rhodey. I think Clint and Natasha are on a mission and Thor's on Asgard, so there's no point trying to contact them."

"Yeah I am, can you get me a drink as well?"

"Sure, anything else?"

"What's your password?"

"Still the one you set."

"You didn't change it from 'Stark1'?" Tony took the phone from Steve's hand and typed in the password, it unlocked with an artificial click.

"It's easy to remember, I'll be back in five minutes." Steve skipped out of the room, towards the shop.

He stared at the phone blankly for a while before remembering he actually had to go onto Steve's contacts to be able to text or call. He tried to text but the screen gave him a headache, so he gave up and dialled the Peppers number.

"Hey Steve, has something happened?"

"You might say that." Tony smirked down the phone.

"Tony!" Pepper shrieked.

"Hi Pep, Steve said I should probably tell you I'm awake."

"Yeah, I figured. Do you want me to come over to the hospital?"

"If you want to, then sure. Also tell Peter I'm fine."

"I will, Tony, uh - has Steve talked to you yet?"

"Yeah, we sorted it out. I honestly don't know why he hasn't just left me."

"It's because he loves you Tony, and that's something you don't want to lose. So try not to mess it up again ok?"

"Yeah, I'll try. I'll see you soon Pepper. Don't forget to tell Peter."

"Bye Tony."

He hung up and took a photo of himself, alive and well next to some scary looking machines. He looked horrible but he sent it to Bruce and Rhodey anyway, it was an easy way of telling them he had woken up. How to use a phone was slowly coming back to him, it was scary to think he had forgotten how to do the simplest of tasks.

"I got you a banana for protein and stuff, also a Nature Valley thing and some water." Steve said, pushing the door open.

"Thanks bub."

"No problem, just eat it slowly. I don't want to have to get that nurse back because you've been sick or something."

"Pepper is coming to visit by the way, and I think she's bringing Peter. Wait what day is it?"

"Wednesday, but the school let him leave to come see you sometimes, you know, you're taking this not knowing anything quite well."

"It's nice, it feels like there's less pressure on me, at least for the time being."

"Are you sure you don't want me to fill you in quickly before Pepper arrives?" Steve offered.

"We should do it at home, where we can actually relax without people buzzing around us."

"Sure." Steve smiled warmly.


	16. Chapter 14

**A/N - I'm updating again today because tomorrow I'm going to be in London so I won't be able to post - Hope you like the new chapter!**

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Pepper and Peter arrived shortly after Tony had finished eating, thankfully he didn't throw up. They talked for a while, she cried a bit and Tony comforted her. She could only stay for a few minutes, and then she had to dash off to a meeting. Steve agreed to walk her back to where Happy was waiting, leaving Peter and Tony alone.

"Hi." Peter smirked goofily.

"Hey there, haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, I know right. I've been a bit busy at school, you've been in a coma, we haven't really had time to catch up." Peter laughed softly.

"Yeah, it's a shame." He grinned playfully. "Anyway, how's things been Peter. Have you got any news on Gwen, school and erm - skating?"

"School's good, I don't know if you remember but I got A+'s in my science exams."

"That's awesome, Peter! Sorry, I uh – can't really remember a lot of what people said when I was in a coma. My head's all kind of messed up at the moment."

"It's ok, I don't know what else to tell you really. My life's pretty boring."

"Gwen?"

"She's doing alright, I think I might stay round her house at the weekend her parents are cool with it."

"Sure, anything exciting happen to Spiderman?" Tony whispered not so subtly.

"No, Steve said I couldn't and told Pepper to not let me out of her sight." Peter hunched back on his chair grumpily.

"He's only trying to protect you." Tony smiled.

"I know." Peter sighed.

Steve came back and they all talked for a while before Peter left to go back to school, Pepper came and visited when she could but for the next four days Tony was bored out of his mind. Steve tried to help by fetching his phone and tablet but he still had nothing to do, or any projects to work on. They talked a lot, and Tony enjoyed being able to spend so much time with Steve without having to rush off to work or something. They didn't talk about when Tony was in a coma or the fight before it, they talked like they used to, about things they found funny or complaining about things that annoyed them. When Tony was close to pulling his hair out, Steve would help him get up from the bed and they would walk around the hospital, hand in hand until Tony got tired and they had to go back.

Tony begged Steve to leave the hospital, just to go home or go on a jog or anything but he always refused; only leaving the hospital room when he absolutely had to, even when Tony had visitors. Tony tried to tell Steve it was ok, that he could leave; in fact Tony really wanted Steve to leave. It wasn't healthy for him to be rotting in a hospital, it wasn't fair on Steve. Tony tried to ask why he wouldn't go but he just avoided the question, Tony knew it must have something to do with the ice and Steve waking up having lost everything and everyone. When Steve woke up he was alone, Tony guessed Steve didn't want Tony to experience that either.

Saturday finally rolled around, the nice nurse (not the homophobic one) asked Steve too step outside and talk to her. Of course Steve complied, with the gorgeous smile that Tony loved ever so much on his face. Tony saw through the glass that Steve was nodding and smiling, it was obviously good news. After about five minutes, he walked back in.

"Guess what?"

"I don't know, sorry, my lip reading skills are rusty." Tony sneered jokily.

"Do you want me to tell you or should we just stay here for ten million years?"

"I'm alright, I'm starting to like it here anyway."

"Oh, so you won't want to come home then? Because apparently you've got the all clear."

"Really?" Tony jolted upright, which wasn't the smartest idea seeing as it sent a crippling pain through his chest. He couldn't help the hiss which escaped his mouth or wincing from the pain.

"Tony, are you ok? Do you want me to get a nurse?" Steve was over by his bed in a split second, gently rubbing over his stomach, he knew it made him feel better. Tony didn't even have to tell him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Tony tried to calm him down.

"Are you sure –" Tony put two fingers under his chin and made Steve look him in the eye.

"Steve, stop worrying about me."

"But-"

"Shh." Tony pressed his lips against Steve's, kissing him softly. "I want to go home."

"Okay." Steve sighed, a smile playing on his lips. Tony couldn't resist kissing him again, to make the small smile turn into a full on grin.

Steve called Happy and packed Tony's things into boxes, Tony offered to help but Steve just batted away his offer. Tony discharged himself and was about to turn the corner to the exit but Steve stopped him.

"Wait, Tony. You do realise there is probably going to be a load of cameras out there, especially seeing as Happy is here, they probably think something's going on."

"Why are they so nosey?" Tony groaned.

"I don't know, apparently our lives are way more interesting than theirs. Look, I'll go out and tell them to back off and that you'll do press and stuff when you're better."

"Yeah, ok, just don't punch anyone." Tony knew how annoying the media in general were, and he was slightly worried about Steve going out there alone.

"I'll try not to." Steve smirked before turning the corner and leaving the hospital. Tony could hear the frenzy of cameras and the pesky reporters trying to interview Steve. Steve told them in the nicest way possible to shut up, and they all did. Then he told them that Tony had been allowed home and would be walking out that door in a matter of minutes. The crowd then erupted again, asking questions presumably but from the safety of the hospital you couldn't pick anything out. Steve quietened them down and asked them all to leave politely, Tony guessed nobody moved because then Steve put on his Captain America voice and commanded them to go immediately. He heard shuffles and within five minutes Steve was back. Tony didn't know why he had doubted him, his boyfriend was Captain fucking America. "Let's go."

"My hero." Tony stood up on his tip toes to peck Steve on his lips.

"No problem." Steve took his hand and led him around the corner; there were no cameras or reporters to be seen. They had almost got to Happy and the car when a little boy caught Tony's eye.

"Steve, wait." Tony let go of Steve's hand and wandered over to the boy. "Hey little man, are you lost?" Tony smiled kindly.

"No, I come out here to play. My Mommy's sick."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Tony said sadly.

"It's ok, I'm glad you're ok though Mr Iron Man. Everyone was really worried, especially Mr Captain America." The little boy pointed at Steve, who smiled and waved.

"Yeah, I heard. I didn't mean to worry everyone."

"I was really scared an alien was going to attack and you wouldn't be able to save us."

"Well, I'm glad they decided not to attack, but I'm back now. So you don't have to be scared."

"Yeah, I suppose. Thank you Mr Iron Man, but you should go home now though."

"I think I should, I'll see you around kiddo." Tony held out his hand for a high five, the kid happily high fived him before skipping off, giggling. Tony walked back to where Steve was standing and took his hand as they started moving towards the car. "Can I get one, please?" Tony chuckled.

"You've got one."

"Not legal yet though."

"Well, all we need is your signature, I've signed my bit." Steve beamed.

"Seriously?"

"Yup."

"Oh my god, we're going to be a family. Like a real, proper family." Tony's smile was almost stretching off of his face.

"Yeah, yeah we are." Steve squeezed his hand; Tony kissed his cheek as they were walking. He could've sworn he saw a camera flash, but he didn't care. It was probably a nice photo.


	17. Chapter 15

**A/N - A really fluffy chapter because next chapter I'm going to add in another plot line and it's quite sad - Thank you for the reviews!**

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The hospital was about half an hour from Stark tower but the journey went fairly quickly. Happy filled both of them on all the news, like a taxi driver would when you got back from holiday. Steve had been watching the news but he still seemed politely interested. Steve asked to stop off at his hotel so he could pack up his stuff and check out of the room. They reached the tower and Steve instructed Tony to remain in the car while Happy and Steve took all the bags out of the car.

Steve came back and helped Tony out of the car, the awkward movement caused Tony a bit of pain but he tried not to show it.

"Where are we going?" Tony asked.

"Bedroom, getting you comfortable then I'll make you something to eat. Sound good?"

"Yeah." Tony smiled; they got into the elevator and made it up to the bedroom.

"Peter's at Gwen's house so you should get some peace for a while." Steve said as he helped Tony onto the bed.

"Thanks." Tony looped his arms around Steve's neck, pulling him down for a kiss. Steve happily obliged, cupping Tony's face and pushing into the kiss desperately. He pulled back and opened his eyes, seeing a single tear roll down Steve's cheek. "Hey, babe, Steve, what's wrong?" Tony pulled Steve onto the bed and put his arm around him, pulling him closer and nuzzling into his hair. "Do you want to talk about it?" Steve shook his head so Tony didn't press him for an answer, he just held Steve, occasionally kissing his forehead or playing with his hair.

"Tony?" Steve eventually spoke up.

"What's that matter, hun?"

"Did you realise you almost died?" Steve mumbled, very quietly so Tony could barely hear him.

"Yeah I'm sorry. I didn't want to scare you."

"I don't know what would've done if you had." Steve turned to look at him, planting a kiss on his lips, just making sure Tony was still there.

"Steve, if I ever die -"

"Tony, no, I don't want to talk about it. It's not going to happen, I won't let it happen."

"Please, I need to tell you this, and then I'll shut up about it I promise." Tony waited for Steve to nod before continuing. "If I die, please find a nice guy or girl, who loves you and Peter and be happy, because I wouldn't want you to be sad, ok?"

"Tony you can't expect me not to be sad."

"At least try?"

"Ok, I'll try." Steve smiled as he kissed Tony again, but this time it wasn't filled with desperation or sadness, like Steve was clinging to Tony like a lifeline – it felt normal, but better than normal, and for the first time in a long while Tony realised that they were going to make it work, that they were going to fix things.

"Good, is that all you were upset about?" Tony chirped, curling around Steve.

"Yeah, well, that's the only thing I was thinking about, I guess the past month just really got to me. By the way, I wouldn't get too comfortable; I need to go get my phone to text Pepper and Peter."

"JARVIS, text Peter and Pepper to tell them I'm out of hospital."

"Done sir, and I would like to welcome you back. I have repaired as much of the mark IV suit as I can, but when you are recovered you will have to finish it."

"Thank you JARVIS."

"Oh, JARVIS, can you monitor Tony's health stats, blood pressure, temperature and whatever. Alert me if anything changes." Steve asked.

"Already done Captain Rogers."

"Anyway, even if we didn't have an AI that could do literally everything for us, I wouldn't let you go." Tony said, turning back to Steve, clinging to him like a koala.

"Tony, I'm pretty sure I could just get up and leave if I wanted to."

"Not without hurting me." Tony stuck his tongue out. Steve rolled his eyes and leaned closer in to Tony. "Wow this being critically injured thing does have its perks."

"And what would those be?"

"Cuddle time with Steve."

"Cutie." Steve leaned up to kiss Tony's chin.

"Shh." They stayed locked in each other's arms for a while before anyone said anything again, Steve was tracing Tony's arc reactor and Tony was rubbing circles into Steve's side. "Why did you forgive me?" Tony's thoughts tumbled out of his mouth. Steve thought about it for a very long minute before answering.

"I didn't want to give up one of the only things I care about, I didn't want to just dump you and never speak to you again, I wanted to see if we could make things work because I really love you Tony."

"I love you too and I'm really glad you decided not to leave me." Tony smiled up at Steve.

"So am I, Tony, do you er- want me to tell you about what happened?"

"Yeah, please, as long as it won't make you sad." Tony made a silent promise not to interrupt Steve. He was starting to remember and piece together some bits and pieces from before he was attacked and while he was in a coma.

"It was about ten in the morning and we assembled to try and get some dragons back into Asgard, or kill them. They were small though and there were only 18 of them. I told you to take Clint up to the roofs to try and take out the ones that were on the buildings. Then we all tried to kill them, but nothing worked so we were all starting to get annoyed, we found out how to kill them and everything was going fine. You left Clint on the roofs to go and survey another area, at least that's what we think happened. Then one of them took you from the air, and then I guess it didn't really like you because it dropped you. I shot it, and then when I found you there was blood everywhere and you were barely breathing. Then the medics came and you technically died, but they managed to revive you for a few minutes then you fell into a coma. For three and a half weeks." Tony put Steve through a lot of shit, but this was definitely top of the list.

"I'm so sorry Steve, I didn't mean to erm die." Tony said quietly trying to process what he had just been told. He had died, like he could've stayed dead and never made up with Steve or see him ever again. Steve laughed softly and pressed a kiss into Tony's ruffled hair. "Who came to visit me, when I was in a coma? If nobody did just make it up."

"Why wouldn't anyone visit you?"

"Because I'm an asshole, and don't try and say I'm not because I know I am."

"You're only an ass sometimes, but yeah, people visited. Bruce came a few times, Rhodes visited whenever he could, same with Pepper and Peter. Clint and Nat came once or twice and Thor visited for about an hour before he had to go to Asgard. Fury sent you, er – flowers. Then the SHIELD team got you a card and they all signed it."

"Are you lying?" Tony couldn't believe him.

"No, all your cards and presents are in the boxes downstairs."

"That's so cool." Tony yawned.

"You should go to sleep if you're tired." Steve said, putting on his grown up responsible citizen voice.

"I want to talk to you though."

"I'm exhausted; sleep now then we can talk later."

"Our sleeping pattern is really messed up; we woke up a couple of hours ago."

"Who cares?" Steve rolled over, pulling Tony's arm around himself. Tony closed his eyes and fell asleep in his own bed, next to Steve, like things were meant to be.


	18. Chapter 16

**A/N - TRIGGER WARNING - TALKS ABOUT PREVIOUS SH.**

**other than that it's a really happy chapter**

**just kidding**

**This chapter is split two again, I'll post the next bit soon!**

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When Tony woke up Steve was gone, he would've panicked but he heard Steve in the kitchen, presumably making something to eat. While Steve couldn't see him he lifted up his shirt and dragged his finger along his two latest scars, they looked horrible, the areas by the stitching had gone a purple green colour and the scar itself was an ugly browny red. He didn't want Steve to ever have to see them, the made Tony feel sick just looking at them.

"Hey Tony, are you awake baby?" Steve poked his head around the door, Tony tried to pull his shirt down quickly, but he was too slow. Steve had already seen them.

"I'm sorry, Steve, you weren't meant to see that. I know they look disgusting, I'll make sure they're always covered." Steve didn't answer him; instead he walked over to the bed where Tony was sitting. Steve carefully lifted up Tony's t-shirt and just stared at the scars, Tony couldn't read his expression but he was pretty sure Steve was horrified. Tony tried to pull his shirt down but Steve stopped him, looking Tony directly in the eyes now. "Steve – Steve, please say something."

"Why would you want to always keep them covered? Tony, I love you and that means every bit of you, ok?"

"Other people can barely look at them, Steve you don't have to lie, and I know you hate them, I do too."

"I don't care what other people think, they shouldn't have told you that they thought it looks bad, and you shouldn't believe what they said. I think they're perfect and one day, when you think you're ready, I want you to show me everyone you've got and tell me the stories behind them." Steve cupped Tony's face and carefully kissed Tony, as if Steve was unsure as to how he would react. Tony placed his hand over Steve's and moved it across slightly to just before his ear.

"When I was younger I fell off my bike and hit my head on the curb, I don't remember it but apparently I just got up and continued playing around until Jarvis, the real Jarvis, came to get me to come inside and realised half my face was covered in blood. It's only small and my hair kind of covers it."

"I can see it, was that your first one?" Steve whispered in Tony's ear as he pressed his lips to it.

"I think so. Steve, do you er- want to see all of them or just the interesting ones?"

"All of them, we have time. I'll go get the food; I'll be back in two seconds." Steve got up off the bed and trotted out of the room, Tony took the time to mentally prepare himself for having to tell Steve about all of his scars. He had always wanted to tell somebody, just to sit down and talk, but Tony was worrying about whether or not he would scare Steve away by revealing pieces of himself that nobody had ever seen before.

Steve came back holding two bowls and two glasses of water. "You didn't have a lot of healthy food, so this is all I managed to make. I'll go shopping later."

"What's in the bowls?" Tony asked curiously.

"Chicken soup, I was going to make you a sandwich as well but I didn't want you throwing up on the bed."

"I'm not that ill, but gimme." Tony reached for the bowl but Steve held it out of his reach. "Gimme please." Steve handed Tony the bowl with a mock smile, he put the waters down on the bed side table so they wouldn't spill. "Thanks bub." Tony kissed Steve's cheek as he climbed back onto the bed.

"No problem." Steve smiled.

"Where do you want to start?"

"Have you got anymore on your face?"

"I've got one on my chin, from when I was at college. Basically I got really drunk at a house party, and the house had a pool. I thought it would be a great idea to backflip into the pool, but I kind of misjudged the distance and hit my chin. I have no idea if that's true, but that's what my friends told me." Tony shrugged, laughing a little as he remembered waking up the next day with a pounding headache, which wasn't helped by his mom shouting at him because he had got all of his clothes wet.

Steve kissed Tony's chin, before lightly pecking him on the lips again. "So you have always been crazy?" Steve chuckled.

"I prefer the term adventurous." Tony grinned proudly.

They sat and talked for hours, occasionally stopping to eat. Tony told Steve about the scars on his chest and arms, spending the most time on his arc reactor.

Tony wanted to explain the full story to Steve, not just skim through it like he had done when SHIELD asked him. Tony told Steve about Ho Yinsen, and how he had saved his life by building the first arc reactor, using a car battery. He told Steve about how Yinsen died a hero, and how Tony would never be able to re-pay him.

Then Tony went on to talk about the palladium poisoning, and how he thought he was going to die. They laughed together about how Tony was completely oblivious to Nat's ass-kicking abilities when they first met. Then he told Steve about the tape he found from his father and how it inspired him to make the new vibranium core for his reactor, he promised he would show it to Steve one day because he knew that Steve and Howard were close friends.

The others didn't take quite as much explaining, many were easily explained by a couple of words such as "Loki" or "The suit broke."

Tony was surprised he couldn't remember many stories behind a few of the smaller scars, like the one on his finger and the two crossing on his palm. He knew about the six centimetre one stretching down the inside of his arm though, that was from when he was testing the call to suit and had got the measurements wrong, meaning the metal tore into his arm whenever he called the suit to him, which was painful.

After two and a half hours they had covered all of the scars Tony knew about on his arms, chest and back. Tony was dreading Steve asking him about the scars on his legs, he knew exactly how many he had on each leg, because he had put most of them there. He wasn't too bothered about his lower legs; there were two scars on the right leg and one on the left, one from when he was in Afghanistan, one while he was working on a car and one from when he fell over when he was younger. But when Steve asked him if there were anymore, with his beautiful blue eyes, looking at him trustfully Tony couldn't lie about it, or cover it up. He had to tell somebody.

"Yeah, yeah there are. But Steve, please don't get angry or annoyed. You have to promise me you won't treat me any differently than you did before."

"Tony you're starting to scare me." Steve said, reaching to hold Tony's hand.

"Promise."

"Yeah, ok baby, I promise." Steve kissed Tony gently, it felt like he was reassuring Tony that he would always be there.

Tony rolled up his trackies, so Steve could see the scars on his leg. There were ten horizontal scars leading down each leg. Tony had re-opened them countless times, so he knew they were never going to go away. He had to show Steve at some point, and this felt like the right time.


	19. Chapter 17

**A/N - I know Maria Stark died during childbirth but this fitted the story**

**TRIGGER WARNING: PAST EXPERIENCES **

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Eventually Tony plucked up the courage to look at Steve's face, first Tony saw disbelief spread across Steve's features, but then it turned into something different, which Tony couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Steve?" Tony whispered, voice cracking like a fourteen year old.

Steve didn't reply, he crashed their lips together carelessly, Steve kissed him fiercely, one hand always on Tony's leg, while the other running up and down his back. Eventually Tony's brain kicked in and realised he was being kissed, Tony took Steve's face in his hands, trying to regain an inch of control; Steve was having none of it though. He removed his hand from Tony's back and gingerly pushed his chest so he was lying down on the bed. Steve continued kissing him, running a hand through Tony's hair while the other stayed firmly on his scars. Tony wrapped both his arms around Steve's neck and let him take full control.

Steve pulled back and rested their foreheads together, he was out of breath but he still pressed occasional kisses to Tony's lips. They stayed there for a while, just locked in each other's arms.

"You're so brave." Steve breathed.

Tony leaned up to kiss him again, closing his eyes as he felt Steve's lip against his. It was perfect. His boyfriend was amazing, he had friends that cared about him, and best of all he had a family. For once in his life he felt that everything was going to be ok.

"I love you, Steve."

"I love you too." Steve punctuated each word with a kiss before he moved to lie next to Tony. Tony curled his arm around Steve's stomach and rested his head on Steve's beautifully toned chest. They lay there for a good ten minutes before anyone said anything again.

"Tony, do you want to talk to me about it. Or would you rather we didn't?"

"I should tell you, you're the only one who knows about them. You may as well know the whole thing."

"Okay, take your time." Steve covered Tony's hand with his.

"I started doing it when I was in college, all the pressure of school just got to me and I think part of it was the fact I couldn't talk to anyone about it, I didn't really have close friends, so I didn't tell anyone, and therefore nobody tried to stop me, so I just kept doing it. I tried to stop once, I think I got to 28 days, it doesn't sound like a lot but it was good for me, so 28 days then my dad got really angry and started calling me some really harsh stuff, and I just felt like shit – oh sorry –"

"It's fine." Steve squeezed Tony's hand and offered a small smile in reassurance.

"I locked myself in my room because I didn't want to go downstairs, so I had a lot of time and er - I made myself feel worthless, because if my dad thinks I am then I must be." Tony tried to laugh, remembering when he cared about his dad's opinion, but it just came out as a chocked sob. "I kept doing it for at least a year, four or five times a week. Then one night, I was going to uh – kill myself, or at least try to. I cut myself really deeply, I had looked up how to do it on the internet, there's an artery that runs down the inside of your leg. You can still see the scar; it's the one at the top of my right leg." Tony shuffled away from Steve to show him the biggest scar; Steve ran his fingers along it before kissing Tony's forehead.

"I'm glad it didn't work." Steve sighed, Tony just realised how tough listening to this must be for him.

"It might've worked, I forgot to lock my door and my mom came in. Then I blacked out and I woke up in my bed, it was stitched up and my mom was sitting next to me. She was the only one that knew, she didn't tell anyone – not even my dad until she died."

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok, it was a long time ago. I tried to stop again and my mom helped me, it was going really well until she passed away. I wanted to stop, but I couldn't. The pain was sort of an escape, for me, to distract me from other things, I used alcohol as well, but I stopped that with your help. I've done it off and on, but I always cut in the same place, that's why they've never faded. I doubt they ever will. I'm sorry; you shouldn't have to look at them."

"When was the last time you did it?"

"When I was at the conventions, but that was breaking quite a long streak."

"You were having a really rough time, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I don't even know why. I'm so – so pathetic." Tony slumped down on the bed, angry at himself.

"Tony, you are not pathetic ok?" Steve lifted Tony's chin so their eyes met.

"Whatever." Tony tried to turn his head away but Steve stopped him.

"You are not pathetic Tony, you are amazing, you are un-fairly handsome and you're all mine." Steve persisted. Tony smiled sweetly before wrapping himself even tighter than before around Steve. "You're like a little teddy bear." Steve laughed, resting his hand on Tony's back.

"Sh'up." He mumbled into Steve's chest.

"Tony?"

"Mhm?"

"How did I not notice them when we er- didn't have any clothes on?"

"Saw a doctor about the scar tissue being removed from the big one while you were away and I always put make up on them, to sort of hide them." Tony lifted his head up to speak before resting back it on Steve's chest. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, Steve playing with his hair as Tony drew patterns on Steve's chest. "Steve can you do something for me?" Tony asked cautiously.

"Yeah, sure." He smiled.

"Go in that draw and get out the box in there." Tony pointed to the drawer on his side of the bed. Steve reached over and pulled out the box. "Hide it from me, but keep it safe."

"Tony, are these -" Steve didn't finish his question but Tony knew what he was asking, so he nodded. Steve sighed sadly, he looked concerned and tired. Tony knew it wasn't fair to be doing this to him, it couldn't be easy. "How have I not seen this before, I've been in that drawer a thousand times before, I'm so stupid." Steve muttered.

"You had no idea what was in that box, please Steve, don't blame yourself." Tony leaned up to kiss him in reassurance, just a light kiss but he knew it worked because Steve visibly relaxed. Steve put the box in his pocket, a small but sad smile dancing on his lips.


	20. Chapter 18

**A/N - I won't be updating a lot this week because I'm at work experience! Hope you enjoy this chapter though!**

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"What do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"Workshop?"

"No." Steve deadpanned.

"Sex?"

"No, but I'm glad you put going to your workshop in front of having sex."

"You know I would choose you over anything ever." He tried to dig him out of the hole he had created for himself.

"Do you want me to give you a choice of things we can do?"

"Fine."

"I can go out and get the shopping while you stay here and watch TV or a film on your own or I can ask JARVIS to get the shopping and we can watch something together."

"Hm, tough decision I think I'll go with the first one." Tony said sarcastically.

"Alright." Steve got up off the bed and started walking deliberately slowly towards the door.

"Steve no! Steve, come back."

Steve turned around smirking, obviously very pleased with himself "wait so which option do you want?"

"The second one, definitely the second."

"Are you sure?"

Tony nodded enthusiastically, moving over on the bed to give Steve more room although Tony would probably end up lying all over Steve.

"JARVIS, can you order some shopping?" Steve asked the AI politely.

"Yes Captain Rogers, would you like me to order from Mister Stark's most recent list, or yours?"

"My list, also can you put on Marley and Me."

"Right away Captain Rogers."

The TV clicked on and the Marley and Me start menu came up; Steve clicked Start before tossing the remote to Tony.

"I won't cry if you're trying to make me all soppy." Tony knew he would end up crying or at least feel upset; he had a soft spot for dogs.

"We both know you're going to end up crying like a baby."

Tony threw a pillow in Steve's general direction before they settled down and watched the movie, they both made silly comments about the film, Tony wasn't really paying much attention to what Steve was saying until something he said caught Tony's attention.

"I want to go on a honeymoon." Steve stated flatly.

"Steve you know there's a difference between a honeymoon and a holiday?"

"Mhm." Steve nodded and went back to watching the film. They watched in comfortable silence for about ten more minutes before Steve turned to him again.

"What?" Tony asked defensively.

"Marry me?" _What? Oh shit._

"What?" Shock was evident in Tony's voice.

"You heard me."

"Aren't there supposed to be rings and getting down on one knee etc?" Tony reached for the remote and muted the film.

"Yeah, but I figured I'd have to ask you more than once so I'm saving the good stuff for when you're more likely to say yes."

"Fair enough." Tony nodded in approval.

"So will you marry me?"

Tony thought about it for a while before shaking his head "Not yet." Steve knew Tony had commitment issues and getting engaged would be a massive and dangerous step, which Tony wasn't quite ready to take.

"At least it's not a flat out no, right?"

"Steve, you know just because I won't marry you doesn't mean I don't love you."

"I know, do you think you'll ever be ready to say yes?"

"You're one of three people I can absolutely trust, you know more about me than anyone else and I feel like I can tell you anything after today. You're the only person in the entire world I can see me spending my life with, so yeah, I will probably say yes eventually, maybe in a couple of months when I've thought about the idea."

"Good." Steve smiled as he leaned in to catch Tony's lips in an almost too soft kiss. As Steve pulled back Tony tugged him down again, trapping Steve's lower lip in his teeth. Tony released Steve's lip in favour of poking his way into Steve's mouth; he traced the inside of Steve's lip with his tongue which earned him a happy hum from Steve. Tony pulled back slightly before kissing taking Steve's lips in his again, leaning up into Steve and trying to ignore the pain that stretched through his ribs.

Tony pulled back when it got too much, he tried to hide the extremely painful ache in his lower ribs with a smile, but Steve saw right through it.

"Tony, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I erm- have you got any painkillers?"

"What time is it?" Steve glanced at the timer on the TV "You need to wait another hour before I can give them too you."

"Brilliant." Tony mumbled, clutching his chest.

"Do you want me to get you some water?" He offered.

"No, it's fine."

Tony pulled himself closer to Steve, he was about to unmute the film when he remembered something he needed to ask Steve.

"Steve, I think I remember something from when I was in a coma."

"Uhuh, if it's to do with me crying that totally didn't happen."

"Whatever you say, but no. I don't know if this is real or not, but I think you told Clint, Nat and Thor about me cheating on you."

"Yeah, I did, I know I should've waited for you to wake up but they had a right to know." Steve shuffled uncomfortably.

"No, no, I don't mind you telling them, it's just – they all hate me don't they?"

"I think they were uh – surprised?" Steve tried to put it lightly but failed completely.

"And by surprised you mean really angry and if I wasn't in a coma they would all punch me in the face, multiple times?"

"Kind of, they calmed down a bit when I told them I was over it and that I had every intention of getting back together with you, Bruce helped too."

"Are you over it? I mean I treated you really badly Steve."

"It hurt when you told me and I was so close to leaving and never coming back, but it hurt more when you were attacked, knowing that you might die and I'd never get to make things right with you. I don't trust you as much as I did and I don't know if you'll ever get that trust back, but I want to try and if it doesn't work out then - then I don't know, but I'm really hoping it will work."

"I understand. You know, I really deserve a lot worse."

"Tony you were in a coma, I don't think it can get a lot worse."

"Debateable." Tony shrugged; he rolled over onto Steve and managed to twist around without causing himself too much pain, his head was dangling over the side of the bed, so he was lying horizontally across Steve.

"Comfortable?" Steve giggled.

"Shh, I'm in pain."

"Anything I can do to help?" Steve lay his hand on Tony' chest, rubbing soothing circles to try and ease Tony's pain.

"Keep doing that, it feels nice." Tony mumbled.

"Alright, when the film finishes I'll make dinner and get you some pain killers." Steve reached over to grab the remote and unmuted the film. They had missed quite a bit but they had both seen it before, so they knew what happened. Tony asked Steve if they could get a dog multiple times, but Steve kept saying no, Tony kept pestering him until he managed to get a maybe and settled for that.


	21. Chapter 19

**A/N - Sorry for the wait/the short chapter! I think I've got a plan for finishing up the fic, I know it's been going on forever! (Don't worry - smut is included in the plan) - also you may have noticed the plot line I threw in the chapter before - I think you know what's coming.**

* * *

When the film finished Tony was pretty sure he was about to explode with pain, it felt like he was being continually stabbed in the chest. He was sweating and it hurt just to breathe. Steve finally let him have the painkillers fifteen minutes before he was meant to. The pain gradually subsided but Tony was worn out. He barely managed to stumble into the kitchen with Steve's help.

"Thought you'd be bored watching TV on your own, so do you think you can chop up some stuff?" Steve asked as he helped Tony onto a chair.

"I can try, what are you making?"

"Tomato pasta – do you want anything to drink?"

"Yeah, please." Tony nodded. Steve poured him half a glass of coke and slid it over to him.

"Drink it slowly." Steve gave him a warning look. "Here – chop up the tomatoes, garlic and pepper. I'll do the onion and some basil." Steve pushed a chopping board over to him with the ingredients on. He chopped the tomatoes in half seeing as they were only small and diced up the pepper and the garlic, it wasn't very neat but it didn't really matter.

Tony watched Steve make the sauce and boil the pasta; he looked so cute when he was concentrating. He took little sips of his drink, it had been a while since Tony had come out of the coma and he was fairly sure his stomach could handle normal food and drink again but he wanted to be sure. Eventually the pasta was on two plates; Steve poured himself a drink before sitting down and eating.

"So, what are we doing tomorrow, theme park?"

"A doctor from the hospital is coming to check up on you in the morning, Peter will be getting back from Gwen's house and er – I think Clint and Nat are getting back from their mission so we should probably talk to them."

"Sounds fun."

"Your life isn't going to be very exciting for a while, sorry." Steve said between mouthfuls of pasta.

"Do you know how long I'm going to be out of action?"

"Couple more weeks, the doctors said your ribs should take six weeks to heal in total, you were in a coma for three and a bit, so two more weeks ish? Unless the scars get infected or something, but they shouldn't."

"In exactly two weeks and three days I'm taking you on a date."

"I look forward to it."

Tony couldn't resist leaning over the table and kissing Steve softly, he looked way too cute. The smile on Steve's face after Tony pulled back was definitely worth the slight pain in his chest.

"And what did I do to deserve that?" Steve's smile was contagious; Tony couldn't help the loving smile which formed across his features.

"Just you, being so – I don't know, Steve-like?"

"So, what does being Steve-like involve?"

"Being all Steve-y– kind, brilliant, handsome, amazing, beautiful, adorable, lovely, tolerant, caring, gentle and just good, I guess. Are you getting the picture?"

"No, I think you should keep listing." Steve smirked. "Oh, did I tell you that you're going to have to get up at eight tomorrow, because the doctor's coming at half past."

"I think I can add jerk to my list."

"I'll make it as painless as possible for you." Steve offered with a slanted smile.

"Are you going to go for a jog tomorrow morning?" Tony changed the subject.

"I was thinking about it, I won't go if you don't want me too though."

"You are going on a jog tomorrow; I will literally push you out that door if I have to."

"Are you finished?" Steve asked gesturing to Tony's plate.

"Yeah, do you need any help with washing up?"

"I'll just put it all in the dishwasher."

"Do you even know how to use it?"

"Nope."

After fifteen minutes of Steve trying to work out how to use a dishwasher he gave up so Tony asked JARVIS to send Dum-E to clean up. It would've been a lot quicker just to do that in the first place but then Tony wouldn't have been able to see Steve's cute flustered face.

They spent the rest of the evening talking with the TV on in the background. At around ten thirty Steve decided they should go to bed a bit early so Tony was less grumpy in the morning. Of course Tony complained, saying that he was not a ten year old child and didn't need to be treated like a baby. Steve ignored him, turned off the light and gently pulled Tony into cuddling with him despite Tony's protests.


	22. Chapter 20

**A/N - I'm going to see IM3 tomorrow I can't wait!**

**Also I'm not a doctor so sorry if any of this is inaccurate.**

* * *

Steve got up at some ridiculously early hour to go on a jog, Tony woke up when Steve slipped out of bed but Tony just rolled over and quickly went back to sleep. He had forgotten about Steve's insanely early jogs but in a way being woken up made him happy because Steve was there again, sleeping next to him, like things should be.

"Tony baby, wake up." Steve nudged him gently, kissing down the side of his face where he could reach. Tony groaned and rolled over onto his back; one of his arms reached around Steve's neck and pulled him down for a proper kiss.

"You taste of coffee." Tony stated sleepily, he yawned before pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"Take these with water, I need to get in the shower, your coffee and toast are there." Steve gave him two pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other, Steve and Pepper were the only people Tony would accept things that were handed to him in the whole world, he wouldn't even let Rhodey or Bruce give him things. Steve kissed Tony again quickly before going to shower. Tony took the pills and gulped down the water. "Slowly!" Steve yelled from the bathroom. _Damn his super serum hearing._

Steve came out of the bathroom five minutes later wearing nothing but a very annoying pair of boxers. Tony didn't realise it was possible for him to miss some abs, but they were pretty amazing, Tony couldn't help but stare.

"Wait, wait, wait." Tony hurried as Steve began pulling on a t-shirt.

"What?" Steve tilted his head in confusion.

"Put your jeans on first." He couldn't help grinning. Steve tossed aside his t-shirt, rolling his eyes and pulled out an old pair of dark jeans. Then he continued putting on the plain white t-shirt and shrugged on a blue zip up hoodie and pushed up the sleeves. "You should just walk around topless, nobody would mind."

"I think Peter might." Steve mumbled, pulling out a file from his bag and a pen. "Adoption papers," Steve clarified. "You just need to sign a couple of times and put your initials and the date." Steve passed him the pen and the papers, pointing where he needed to sign. Tony smiled, handing back the forms before leaning up to catch Steve's lips in a light kiss. "The doctor should be here soon, after he or she leaves you need to call Nat or Clint, they live together now so I'm sure one will be able to tell the other."

"Really, that's a bit quick isn't it?"

"Tony I moved in here two weeks after we started dating."

"Yeah, but that's because your apartment was tiny and you didn't live anywhere near the rest of us, also we didn't share a bed for quite a while."

"I guess, anyway try and be nice to the doctor."

"I'm always nice to new people." Tony scoffed, starting to wake up a bit more.

"Well the first time I met you -" Steve trailed off as someone buzzed to be let in. "That will be them." Steve left and came back a couple of minutes later with a doctor, she was actually pretty hot and as soon as Steve saw the look on Tony's face Steve shook his head and gave Tony a look in warning.

"Hi Mr Stark, I'm Doctor Ashcroft and I'm going to be visiting you a couple of times in the next two weeks to see how you're getting on."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Tony smiled.

"Ok, so have you experienced any of the following recently: shortness of breath, increasing chest pain, pain in your abdomen or shoulder or coughing?"

"Yesterday it really hurt as the painkillers wore off, but that went when I took more. The rest not really, I mean it hurt a bit to breathe when the pain was really bad, also when I move it generally complains."

"What painkillers are you using?"

"Steve?"

"Uh, one of each of these, the hospital gave them to me." Steve passed the boxes to the doctor.

"Ok, change it to two from the brown box and one from the purple, that should help more with the pain although it should start to wear off, are you more able to walk around now?"

"I haven't really tried, yesterday I got to the kitchen, but Steve had to help me."

"Yeah but that's when he was really in pain though." Steve interrupted.

"Do you want to try?"

"Sure." Tony shrugged, he got up off the bed fine although his ribs protested a little, nothing he wasn't used to though. He stood up and was a little wobbly at first, when he got his balance he walked straight over to Steve, his walk was a little awkward but he still did it.

"I would encourage you to start walking around a bit more, maybe go out for a walk or something. If you don't feel up to it just walking around here would be fine."

"I can do that." Tony nodded.

"Can I take a look at the scars on your chest please?"

Tony looked at Steve briefly; he smiled in encouragement and nudged him forward a little. Tony lifted up his top, revealing the two ugly scars.

"They're healing nicely." The doctor commented as she ran her fingers across each. "Don't worry about the bruising, that should go soon." She smiled; Tony pulled his top back down before looking at Steve again who smiled. "Have you got any questions?"

"Can I work?" Tony rushed in, he knew the answer was probably a no but he asked anyway.

"Work as in sending emails, designing things on a computer, and going to meetings – sure. Although I'm pretty sure you mean building cars and creating gadgets, I would advise putting that off for a couple of weeks, the same with sex. You don't want to undo the setting and start the process again."

"Dammit."

"Don't swear." Steve scolded.

"Do you have any more questions?" The doctor chirped.

"Uh yeah, are there any foods he should avoid?" Steve questioned.

"It depends, have you had any stomach pains or felt sick?"

"Nope." Tony shook his head.

"Then he should be fine, just eat healthily at regular times and lay off any alcohol."

"I don't drink anyway."

"You should be extra fine then."

"Ok thank you, is that all you need to check?" Steve asked politely.

"Yeah I'll come back in a couple of days, just to make sure everything's going smoothly."

"Great."

"Oh, by the way, I have to ask otherwise my sister will kill me. Did you guys break up? There were some rumours going around."

"No, no they're not true." Steve said quickly, before Tony could say anything.

"Oh she'll be pleased; she's a really big fan." The doctor turned and left the room, Tony took Steve's hand and followed her to the lift.

"Thanks, we'll call you if anything happens." Steve smiled as she got into the lift.

"No problem."


	23. Chapter 21

**A/N - IM3 was so good omg asdfguiojp[op'egki[rojh[r**

**(Sorry about the short chapter)**

* * *

Steve walked over to the couch and slumped down, gesturing Tony to come and join him. Tony settled between his legs, leaning back on his chest.

"That wasn't too painful was it?" Steve pressed a kiss into the back of Tony's head.

"No, but I have a feeling talking to Clintasha will be."

"Who do you want to talk to?" Steve pulled out his phone and passed it to Tony, it was easier than having to get back up and fetch Tony's phone from their room.

"Who hates me less?"

"I think Nat was more understanding once I explained it to her."

"Ok." Tony sighed as he dialled Natasha's number, she picked up pretty soon.

"Hello?" Her voice was icy, typical.

"Hey, Nat." Tony greeted cautiously.

"Oh, you're alive, why are you using Steve's phone?" _Always asking the important questions._

"Well, mine's in our room and Steve's was in his pocket."

"You're out of the hospital?"

"Yup, look, I know I should probably explain something's and I understand if you hate me. I hate me too."

"Steve told me everything I need to know."

"Nat I know I messed up and I'm really sorry, is there anything I can do?"

"Give me to Steve."

Tony passed the phone back to Steve, but shuffled closer so he could still her what Natasha was saying.

"Hi, it's Steve."

"Why have you just let him off the hook?"

"I told you in the hospital, we talked about it, we've talked about it a lot and we both want to try and make it work."

"Steve you can be angry at him, you know that? Just because he was in a coma doesn't mean you can't shout at him."

"I don't want to shout at him though and he knows I'm angry at him."

"You are too nice."

"Anyway, how was Peru?"

"It was fine, it all went as planned but we didn't exactly have time to see the sites."

"Nat who are you talking to?" Clint's voice was muffled, but it was definitely Clint's.

"Steve."

"Has something happened to Tony?" He sounded concerned, maybe he wasn't all that pissed off after all.

"No he's fine, he woke up and he's at home."

"Oh, good."

"Sorry Steve, but yeah we're both fine, no serious injuries Clint got a couple of bruises but that's it really, is that all you were calling about?"

"No, I want you to forgive Tony, please."

"Why? You shouldn't have forgiven him."

"Natasha please, we can't be a team if everyone is annoyed at him."

"Fine, pass the phone back."

Steve handed Tony the phone with a look of warning, Tony already knew he was the one in trouble; he wouldn't want to cause more with snarky remarks or sarcastic comments.

"Alright Stark, I'm going to forgive you, for the team and for Steve."

"Thanks Nat, do you and Clint want to come round to the tower one night for dinner or something?"

"Why don't you come over to ours for a change, can you do tonight?"

"Yeah, we're free."

"Come at seven-ish."

"We'll be there, bye Nat."

"Bye." Natasha hung up the phone.

"That went alright, didn't it?"

"It could've gone worse; we're going around their new apartment for dinner tonight. Hope you know the address, because I have no idea." Tony passed the phone back to Steve, who nodded as he locked the phone and slipped it back into his pocket.


	24. Chapter 22

**A/N - Sorry again about shortness - I'm revising for my exams at the moment D: but I hope you like it!**

* * *

"What time's Peter meant to be getting back?"

"He said he would be back for lunch, so a couple of hours. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, I don't really want to watch TV though."

"JARVIS has the shopping arrived yet?"

"No Captain Rogers, it is scheduled to arrive in approximately fifteen minutes."

"Thank you JARVIS," Steve turned back to Tony "When it comes we can make cakes and take them to Clint and Nat's."

"Sounds better than TV to me."

"Can you go get my recipe book?"

"You do have legs you know." Tony carefully stood up. Tony knew Steve was only asking him so Tony would walk around, like the doctor had told him too.

"You were sitting on top of me." Steve called to Tony who was in the kitchen, searching around for the book. "It's in the second cupboard above you to the right." Tony found the book and resumed his position in Steve's lap.

"How do you know how to cook?" Tony said absentmindedly.

"I don't, I know how to follow instructions though, which I think is your downfall when it comes to cooking." Steve laughed. "The recipes in this book are all my mom's she tried to teach me to cook so we wrote out this book really simply, I know some off by heart now like the pasta last night, although I've added some ingredients to it and it's not exactly difficult. We never got to finish the book before she died; I should probably finish it off on my own. I'm just rambling now, I'm turning into you."

"It's alright, talk all you want, we've got some time to kill." Tony turned around and kissed Steve. "Are you alright? I know it can't be easy talking about your mom."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I kind of like talking about her."

"Tell me everything then."

"Are you sure?" Steve didn't sound convinced.

"Of course." Tony turned back around and put Steve's hand on his ribs, where they were starting to hurt a bit.

"Her name was Sarah, she came to America from Ireland with my dad, Joseph, but he died when I was still quite young so I didn't really know him. She was a really strong Catholic, that's why I found it really difficult to come out, knowing that she might hate me but then I realised she would want me to be happy above anything so I sort of accepted that I liked you in more than a friend way. Anyway, as a family we were quite poor so we couldn't really afford to do anything exciting, but my mom showed me the park I took you to on our anniversary and she taught me how to climb a tree and do all the stuff kids should know how to do."

"She sounds like a really great woman."

"She was. One year for my birthday I really wanted a bike, but I knew we couldn't afford one so I didn't bug her about it. So on my birthday I came downstairs maybe expecting a cake and a card and there was a bike, it was small and a little rusty but it was still a bike and I thought it was perfect. We had to eat stale bread for at least a month but I don't think either of us cared." Steve chuckled.

"Did she like cooking?"

"Yeah she loved it, her favourite thing to make was apple pie, we had it whenever we could afford the ingredients."

"I think that explains why apple pie is your favourite food."

"Probably, her recipe's in there, along with one for chicken pie. I remember we wrote both of them out on the same day."

"Hate to interrupt, but the shopping has arrived downstairs, would you like me to get a bot to send it up or would you like to collect it yourselves." JARVIS buzzed.

"No, we'll go down and get it, thanks JARVIS." Steve answered.

"We could just stay here."

"You're going to walk, get up lazy bones or I'll make you take the stairs."

"Steve we're 24 floors up." Tony groaned, rolling off of Steve.

"Good job you decided to get up then."


	25. Chapter 23

**A/N - Fluffety fluffety fluff :) Thank you for the reviews!**

**(Food tech lessons came in handy for this chapter)**

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Tony took Steve's hand and lead him downstairs to the shopping, it only took two runs seeing as Steve could hold insane amounts of shopping. They put away the shopping together, Steve did the cupboards and Tony did the fridge, they left out the ingredients which they needed to make the cakes though.

"Alright chef, how do we do this?" Tony smirked, turning on the coffee machine. Steve shot him a look which meant he didn't approve of his nickname. "Chef or Cap, you gotta pick one."

"Cap." Steve had learned not to question Tony's weird nicknaming habits. "Ok, so this recipe makes eight, that won't be enough if we're taking some to Nat and Clint so I'm going to double it."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Here, melt this butter in the microwave for a couple of seconds to make it softer."

Tony took the bowl of butter and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds and took it out when it dinged, some of the butter had melted but it probably didn't matter. Steve had already weighed out the sugar and was sieving it into a bowl.

"What next, Cap?"

"Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees."

"JARVIS, do what he said."

"Done, Mr Stark."

"Get a spoon and mix in the butter with the sugar, when you can't see any more sugar and the butter's creamy stop. I'll weigh out the rest of the ingredients."

Tony mixed the butter and the sugar until it was light and creamy, he gave the bowl to Steve who stirred it roughly a couple more times to make sure all the sugar was mixed with the butter.

"Good, now we add the egg and the vanilla essence." Steve handed Tony one egg and cracked the other himself then he added a couple of drops of the vanilla. Steve pushed the bowl to Tony who happily stirred in the new ingredients.

"Done?" Tony tilted the bowl in Steve's direction.

"Yeah, we have to sieve and fold in the flour really carefully so we don't let any air out of the mixture."

"Ok, carefully, got it Cap." Steve sieved in the flour bit by bit and Tony folded it in gently, eventually all the flour was mixed in.

"Do you want to put anything in them like chocolate chips or something?"

"Can we do half and half?"

"Yeah, we need to put the cupcake cases in the tin first though."

"Say cupcake again." Tony wouldn't even deny giggling like a school girl at Captain America saying cupcake.

"Er - cupcake."

"God you're so adorable."

"You are crazy." Steve waved a spoon at him.

"Crazily in love with you."

"Cute." Steve leaned down to kiss Tony who happily stood on his tiptoes to meet Steve halfway, humming into the kiss.

"Ok so the cases?" Tony pulled back, smiling.

"Yeah, fill eight of these around three quarters full, they'll rise when we cook them. Try not to spill it on the sides because those bits will burn."

"Sure." Tony filled each case while Steve went on a hunt for chocolate chips.

"Found some!" Steve called from inside one of the cupboards where they usually kept cereal. Steve threw the unopened packet in Tony's direction. "Just tip a couple of handfuls in." Tony decided a couple of handfuls meant half the packet and that the rest would make a good snack.

"Chocolate chip?" Tony offered the packet to Steve.

"You're not meant to eat the ingredients you know."

"I'll take that as a no then." Tony popped three more chocolate chips into his mouth.

"Wait, give me a few." Steve held out his hand so Tony tipped a couple onto his palm. "Thanks." Steve smiled goofily.

"No problem handsome."

"I thought I was Cap?"

"Cap, handsome, they're close."

"No they're not." Steve scoffed, splitting the rest of the mixture into eight cases. "Put these in the oven." Steve handed the baking tray to Tony, taking the chocolate out of his hands and putting it on the counter.

"Let Dum-E clean up, I can't be bothered." Tony closed the oven and dusted the flour off his top.

"Tony, that's lazy."

"We've done all the hard stuff, Dum-E won't mind, he's probably a bit bored and destroying something anyway."

"Well, they will take fifteen minutes, so what are we going to do for that time?"

"I have an idea," Tony took Steve's hand and dragged him away from the kitchen. "JARVIS?"

"Already sending Dum-E up, Mr Stark."

"What was your idea?" Steve asked innocently, Tony responded by crushing their lips together, and guiding Steve onto the couch. "Oh." Steve managed to say before Tony seized his lips again, taking more care this time, tracing Steve's lip with his tongue.

Steve bit back a moan as Tony's tongue flicked over his and he shuffled underneath Tony. Steve broke the kiss as he heard the lift ding, when he saw Dum-E roll out his concentration went straight back to Tony, who was planting open mouthed kisses along his neck. "Tony – ah, Tony we can't have sex."

"I know, but it doesn't mean we can't have a little bit of fun." Tony grinned before resuming kissing up and down Steve's neck before finding a spot he liked and began sucking, nipping and teasing Steve's skin.

"T-tony, god, Peter will see." Steve mumbled into Tony's shoulder. Tony hummed and continued sucking and licking Steve's already flushed skin. When he was happy with his handy work he pulled back, straddling Steve's lap and smiled proudly. Just below Steve's jawline a purpley-red bruise was forming, Tony kissed it lightly again, scraping his teeth along it.

"I think it's the best one I've ever given you." Tony beamed, usually the serum would heal them in a couple of hours, but Tony had high hopes for this one.

"If it's still there when we have to leave to go to Clint and Nat's I get to give you one before you have a meeting, deal?"

"Deal." Tony smirked, pecking Steve on the lips again. Steve looped his arm around Tony's neck and pulled him closer, taking his lips in a tender kiss. Steve didn't even hear Peter step out the lift.

"Hey, I got your text so I came back early – Oh god, I'll leave you to it. Do I smell cakes?" Steve's eyes shot open at the sound of Peter's voice. Tony pulled back and sat up on Steve's lap in a matter of seconds.

"Peter we weren't having-" Tony spoke before Steve could say anything.

"I know, you were making out on the couch."

"We didn't even get an 'ew gross'?"

"Nah, tell me when you've finished I recorded something on that TV I need to watch for school." Peter picked up Tony's abandoned chocolate chips and picked a few out to eat.

"JARVIS, when will the cakes be ready?"

"Five minutes Mr Stark."

"Come back in five minutes you can have the couch and a cake."

"Cool, I'll be in my room. Sorry if I killed the mood." Peter grabbed a handful of chocolate chips before walking off.

"That was weird." Steve spoke up when Peter was gone.

"Yeah I know," Tony pondered on Peter's slightly weird behaviour before shrugging "oh well." He kissed Steve again before deciding the mood had been killed and instead chose to delicately flop onto Steve's chest and play with the fabric of his t shirt.


	26. Chapter 24

**A/N - This chapter takes off exactly where the last one finishes- I just didn't want to bore you all with a really long chapter! MORE FLUFF BEFORE A PLOT TWIST WOO.**

**(Oh and it's Steve who speaks first)**

* * *

"What do you want to do in the afternoon?"

"I don't know, I'll ask Pepper if there's any work I need to do."

"Ok, I might go down to the gym later, what time did Nat say?"

"Seven." Tony mumbled into Steve's t shirt.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm just angry at myself."

"Tony, we've been over this." Steve sighed, rubbing Tony's back soothingly.

"I deserve so much worse though, it's not fair Steve, are you just being nice because I'm injured? If you are I'm fine, you can leave." Tony rambled.

"Look Tony, when we met up at the café I had every intention of getting back with you, in fact as soon as I calmed down the night I left I realised I missed you. I was being stubborn because I wanted you to know what you did hurt me and I didn't want to give in without you realising that I – I don't know – that I don't want to be treated like that."

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are Tony, I just – do you think we can forget about the whole thing?"

"Honestly? No."

"I thought you would say that." Steve sighed. "I really want to spend the rest of my life with you, I don't want to be with anyone else, if we can't forget it we have to try and move on otherwise it will never work."

"I know."

"Tony, moving on means you have to forgive yourself."

"I should hate myself, what I did to you Steve – there was no excuse. Nat was right, you should be angry – you shouldn't be able to stand the sight of me and -"

"Tony, please stop beating yourself up. I've forgiven you, which means you should forgive yourself too. I'm not going to argue with you about this. Ok?"

"Steve -" Tony couldn't finish because Steve somehow managed to pull him into a kiss.

"I don't want to hear anything about you hating yourself Tony because I love you and it really upsets me when you say things like that."

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I love you too Steve – can we just – just change the subject. Please."

"Cupcakes?" Steve smiled brightly, despite the slightly depressing topic beforehand. Tony beamed at Steve saying cupcake again, he had no idea why it made him happy, it just did "No. I know that look on your face; I'm not going to say it again."

"I hate you." Tony stuck his tongue out.

"No you don't, c'mon get off me." Steve pushed himself up so Tony jumped off his chest. They wandered over to the kitchen together, Steve put on the stripy oven mitt Tony had bought him as a joke and pulled out the golden brown cupcakes.

"They actually look alright!"

"Yeah, now we should have some icing from a packet unless you ate it while I was gone." Tony had barely touched the cupboard Steve digged around in, they had literally been living off frozen food, ready meals or something Pepper made. "Right now we need a piping bag which should be - here." Steve fished out two triangular bags and pushed the nozzles down so they were sticking out the end. "We need to wait for them to cool down before we ice them."

"So we put the icing in the bag then squirt it on, it's can't be that hard right?"

"You can do the eight me you and Peter are eating then."

"It feels like you don't have confidence in me." Tony squinted at Steve.

"You could say that."

Tony hopped onto the kitchen counter, Steve put his arms around Tony's neck and kissed him, Tony didn't really expect it but he just smiled and hummed contently.

"So I guess the couch is free?" Peter strolled in and the two separated immediately, Steve blushed like a teenager caught in the bushes making out, which was adorable. "What's that on your neck Ste- Oh." Peter smiled knowingly; Steve's hand flew up to his neck, covering where Tony had made the hickey. His face went even redder than before; Tony loved how Steve blushed when anything even slightly embarrassing happened.

"Yeah Steve, what is that on your neck?"

"Shut up, Tony." Steve grumbled.

"Sorry." Tony immediately backed down, not wanting to annoy Steve. He knew their relationship was on unsteady ground already, so he wouldn't dare do anything stupid.

"What?" Steve sounded like Tony had just told him unicorns exist.

"I said I was sorry."

"No, that's not how it's meant to go." Steve slowly took the hand away from his neck, still looking at Tony in disbelief, which made him uncomfortable.

"I don't understand."

"You're meant to pull my hand away from my neck, saying it's not that bad or something, then I'm meant to shout at you and we both end up laughing."

"Oh, I didn't want to make you angry."

"Tony, I wouldn't get angry at you for you being you. If this is about you being scared I'll leave you then don't be, if I decide I want to leave then I'll talk to you about it before and it wouldn't be over a stupid little thing. Anyway, I don't plan on going anywhere."

"Good, because it's really not bad and I think it's already fading a bit." Tony snapped back to his usual self.

"Remember: if it's still there when we go to Clint and Nat's you get one before a meeting."

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Can you two shut up? I'm trying to be educated here." Peter called from the couch.

"Well what do you want us to do just stand here in silence?"

"Kiss or something, I don't know."

"Wait – did the person that said it should be illegal for us to make out just ask us to kiss?"

"Yeah Peter, that is a bit weird. I mean you completely ignored the fact I have this." Steve backed Tony up, pointing to the red mark on his neck.

"I'm happy that you two are back together, before I found you kissing and stuff a little bit gross, but now I don't really mind it." Peter paused the TV and looked over the back of the couch smiling sincerely. "Is that all because this programme was getting kind of interesting?"

"Yeah, sure Peter." Steve smiled which prompted Peter to turn back around and un-pause the TV.

"We better do what he said, we can't disrupt his education." Tony smirked, licking his lips playfully and kicking his heels lightly on the counter. Steve crowded round him, draping his arms around Tony's neck and smiling before bending down to catch Tony's lips in an almost-chaste kiss. Tony closed his eyes and completely relaxed, letting his lips move with Steve's in the way they had become used to. Steve pulled away first but Tony desperately dragged him back down, enjoying the simple kiss way too much.

"I was going to say that we can probably start icing the cakes now." Steve breathed.

"Oh, ok." He slid off the table and picked up a piping bag.

"You do four chocolate ones first, then we'll swap and you can do four vanilla."

"Got it, Cap." Tony spooned some of the chocolate fudge icing into the bag, he plucked a cupcake out of the tin and placed it in front of him. He pushed the icing down to the bottom of the bag and carefully tried to get it to swirl, trying too hard to make it even.

"Do you need some help, Tony?" Steve smiled, four perfectly iced cupcakes in front of him. _How the hell did he manage to do that so fast?_

"I thought you said you couldn't cook." Tony nodded to the cupcakes.

"That's decorating, it's different from cooking."

"Help me." Tony almost pleaded, Steve was the only person he would accept help from when it wasn't absolutely life threatening.

Steve picked a chocolate chip cake from the tin and placed it in front of Tony, he then went around the back of Tony and placed his hands over Tony's on the piping bag, head resting on his shoulder. Steve guided Tony's hands, applying barely any pressure to the bag and moved Tony's hands in a spiral pattern, making an amazingly iced cupcake.

"See?" Steve said sweetly, pecking Tony's ear.

"Uhuh, help me with the next one."

"Ok, but you have to do the last one." Steve reached over Tony to place another cupcake in front of them; in one smooth motion the cupcake was iced. Tony still had no idea how to do it seeing as Steve was doing most of the work. "Have you got it now?"

"I think so." Tony lied, Steve moved to stand next to him, leaning on the counter. Tony took another cake and placed it in front of him, trying to remember what Steve had done, he applied a little bit of pressure and swirled it. It actually looked pretty good.

"You did it!"

"I know!" Tony shrieked, pressing a kiss to Steve's lips. "Are we seriously getting excited about icing cakes?"

"What do you mean? Icing cakes is very exciting." Steve smirked, taking the piping bag out of Tony's hands and passing him the one containing vanilla icing. Tony took out the remainder of the plain cakes and iced them pretty quickly, not as fast as Steve though who seemed to be able to ice a cake in a second.

Steve packed eight of the best looking cakes into a box, he actually did take a couple of Tony's but that was probably because he felt bad.

"Peter! Cakes ready." Steve called and Peter trotted into the kitchen, he picked up a chocolate one and started walking back to the TV.

"Thanks." Peter mumbled over his shoulder.

"Do you want to eat one now?" Steve turned back to Tony.

"When are we having lunch?"

"One-ish."

"May as well." Tony shrugged, taking a cake and biting into it. "These are actually so nice."

"You made them."

"It was mainly you. I need to go email Pepper. Dum-E, clean up." Tony commanded the bot, who whirred in response before trundling over and putting things in the dishwasher.

"I'll be in the gym if you need me." Steve shucked off his hoodie and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. He kissed Tony quickly before walking towards the elevator, leaving Tony alone in the kitchen.


	27. Chapter 25

**A/N - I really like this chapter and I hope you do too!:) It was very fun to write.**

* * *

For the rest of the day Tony worked on his statement about his accident, Pepper had sent him guidelines which helped a bit. He didn't know why everyone was so interested, but apparently they were. Tony spent two hours typing out seven lines, which the magazines and newspapers could twist in any way they wanted. Tony had learnt not to care about what they said anymore, he knew what was true and that was all that mattered.

When he was happy with his statement he sent it off to Pepper who could do whatever she wanted with it. Then, to keep him entertained she sent him a list of shit ideas the board had come up with for a Stark Industries new release.

Tony had been in his room for god knows how long before he decided it would be a good idea to go out and get some fresh air. He got up and opened the door when he bumped into Mr Perfect Abs.

"Hey Steve." Tony mumbled into Steve's toned chest.

"I was just going to get in the shower, where are you going?" Steve laughed cutely at Tony, who was still pressed up against Steve's chest.

"I was going to go out to the shop and get some drinks."

"Oh, fair enough. You might want to take some money." Steve entered the room, tossing Tony his wallet with a smile.

"Yeah, that would be useful. What should I get?"

"Get some beer or something for them." Steve shrugged.

"Alright, I'll be half an hour." Tony took his wallet and shoved it in his pocket, popping a kiss on Steve's cheek quickly before leaving.

It was a really nice day so Tony didn't bother driving, it was a fairly long walk but it would do him good.

He reached the store and walked in, the first thing he saw when he glanced at the newspapers was his face. Everywhere. Tony was used to this sort of thing by now so he picked up the paper with the photo of him and Steve leaving the hospital and put it in his basket laughing to himself.

He grabbed a six pack of beers and turned the corner to the check out. That's when he saw her. The girl he had cheated on Steve with, he was about to turn back and hide but she had already seen him. _Why the hell was she in Manhattan? _Tony was certain she said she lived in LA.

"Hello Tony." She purred.

"What are you doing here? You live on the other side of the country._"_

"I fancied a little trip." She closed in on Tony, cornering him. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little scared about her presence.

"Look, what happened between us it was– it was nothing. I have a boyfriend."

"I don't mind sharing."

"I don't even know your name! I don't want to do anything with you, it was a mistake, I didn't even want to do it at the time, I told you to stop, please, just forget about it."

"But it was so good, c'mon, one more time. I know you want to." Her lips were inches away from Tony's, he was starting to panic a bit, he wouldn't let what happened last time happen again.

"No!" He managed to yell before she pushed him up against the wall and crashed their lips together, Tony tried to turn his head to get away, but her grip on his face was too tight. Tony didn't know what to do. He tried to pull away and scream for help but it was muffled by the girl's lips. _Why couldn't anyone in the damn shop hear him? _

He was about to hurt her when he heard a familiar icy cold voice. Suddenly, he felt very sorry for the girl.

"Tony?"

"Get her off m-" Tony was cut off again by the girl who didn't seem to be deterred by the master assassin that just saw her forcefully kiss Tony.

"What the hell are you doing?" Nat screamed at the girl before pulling her off Tony with quite some force, she didn't let go without a fight though, leaving Tony with scratch marks down his face. Tony could've sworn he saw Loki, if it was only for a second.

"Tony, are you alright?" Tony nodded dumbly in response, trying to catch his breath. Natasha then turned to the girl, raising her fist. "Who are you?" Natasha demanded.

"No need to be so rude." She smiled, almost evilly. Before Tony could stop her Natasha had punched the girl, this time Tony definitely saw the girl turn into their favourite god of mischief before flashing back.

"Tony did you-?"

"See it? Yeah." Tony nodded. Tony blinked and Natasha had somehow cuffed the girl and was sitting on her back, pinning her to the floor.

"I'll say it again before I snap your neck, who are you?"

"Loki." She or he hissed, Tony wasn't too sure what Loki was at the moment.

"Tony clear out the shop and call SHIELD."

Tony hurried off and persuaded the manager that the shop needed to be evacuated, he called SHIELD and told them about the situation. Tony still had no idea how Loki had escaped, he was pretty sure he was meant to be locked up in the prisons on Asgard. Tony went back to where Natasha had Loki pinned, he was still in girl form so obviously she hadn't cracked that yet.

"SHIELD will be five minutes."

"Thanks Tony."

"If it isn't my favourite fuck buddy." Loki spat and Natasha slammed his head against the floor but he didn't stop. "You know, even my strongest love potion wouldn't make you fuck me without a fight. Even when I got you naked I had to ride you like a whore."

"Shut up."

"You must really love that little soldier boy of yours, you see you're each other's weakness."

"All of it was you?"

"Yes. It was a brilliant plan. Shame my baby dragons didn't finish the job, I was really looking forward to seeing the Captain's heart broken and of course, your dead body too. That didn't work though, so I was here to do it all again, this time I was hoping you would kill yourself, I know your history Stark." Loki had barely finished speaking as Nat flipped him over, delivering a right hook, knocking Loki out cold.

"Nat, that's not Loki. I mean that's still a girl, it's just Loki possessing her or something. Loki wouldn't be knocked out by a punch."

"I figured, that's why I haven't killed him yet. Let SHIELD deal with it."

"Ok." Tony slumped down against the wall opposite Natasha, burying his face in his hands. "I wasn't kissing her by the way, she kissed me. I would never cheat on Steve again. I tried to get away but I didn't want to hurt her."

"Don't worry Tony, I saw."

"Nat, you know what Loki said? Do you think it could be true?"

"Well, what do you remember about that night?"

"I was having a drink, then that girl came up to me and we talked then she asked if she could kiss me. I said yes so we did, then she told me to follow her to her room and so I did. Then when things got too far I told her to stop but she wouldn't so I just let her do what she wanted with me. God I feel so disgusting."

"I think it could be true. I've seen the way you look at Steve, you wouldn't cheat. I was really shocked when I heard because it didn't sound like something you'd do."

"Should I tell him?"

"About Loki? Of course! Tony, it means you didn't cheat."

"I know but it will upset him."

Natasha was about to say something but then a black SHIELD van pulled up outside the shop. Three agents pushed through the crowd that had formed and carried Loki into the van.

"I better go, I told Steve I would only be half an hour, he'll start worrying."

"Ok, I'm going to walk home with you though."

"I can look after myself."

"Tony you have cracked ribs and you just came out of a coma, no. I'm coming with you."

"You're starting to sound like Steve." Tony picked up the basket and started wandering towards the check out.

"I thought you stopped drinking?" Natasha pointed to Tony's basket.

"Oh, that was for you, for tonight. Steve also taught me how to make cakes so we're bringing some of those over as well."

"Remind me to invite you two over more often." Tony caught a glimpse of one of Natasha's very rare smiles. Nobody could resist cupcakes.

Tony put down enough money on the counter to cover both his and Natasha's shopping despite her protests that she could pay for things herself, Tony knew the SHIELD wage wasn't huge and it was the least he could do for saving him from Loki.

They walked home together even though Natasha lived in completely the opposite direction to him and would have to walk back past the shop and the media frenzy that had formed outside it.

Surprisingly Tony wasn't attacked on the way home so Nat didn't have to swing into assassin mode. When they reached the tower Tony thanked her for rescuing him again before he headed back inside.


	28. Chapter 26

**A/N - Thank you for all the reviews!**

**I needed to write a quick chapter so the Loki-emotional-speeches will come soon!**

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Tony put the beers in the fridge and headed straight to the bedroom, after what happened in the shop he really needed a hug. When he opened the door to their room he was greeted with the cutest sight ever. Steve was on Tony's side of the bed, wearing smarter clothes than before, curled up, asleep. Tony smiled fondly, pulled a spare blanket out of the wardrobe and spread it over Steve.

Tony slipped out of the room and tiptoed across the hall to Peter's. "Hey, Peter." Tony knocked softly, opening the door slightly.

"Yeah? Come in."

"Steve and I are going out tonight but there's food in the fridge so help yourself whenever you want it."

"Awesome, thanks."

Tony smiled and shut the door behind him, he then walked back into his room where Steve was still sleeping. It was about three hours until they had to leave so Tony sat down next to Steve and started working on a speaker, it was the only thing he was slightly interested in on the board's list and it took his mind off what just happened.

After about an hour Steve woke up. "Tony? Mph, what time is it?"

"Quarter past five." Tony locked his STARKPad and turned to Steve, brushing his golden hair out of his eyes.

"You sound upset." He yawned. Steve knew him way too well.

"I only said three words."

"What's bothering you?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"I was in the shop then the girl that I cheated on you with saw me, pushed me up against a wall and kissed me."

"What?"

"I didn't kiss her back, you can ask Nat, I was trying to get away, she wouldn't let me."

"Nat was there?"

"Yeah, she helped get the girl off of me. She pushed her away and this is where it gets a little bit strange. I saw L-loki, just like a flash, and then it went back to the girl. I thought it was nothing then Nat punched her and it happened again, Nat saw it too that time. It turns out the 'girl' was Loki."

"Oh."

"You don't believe me do you?"

"No, I do."

"I'm not really upset about that, it's just something Loki said."

"What did he say?"

"He said that he used a love potion on me, to make me have sex with him or uh -her." Tony tried to say it without trembling, but he could already feel the tears coming.

Steve's eyes widened and he pushed himself up, looking at Tony in pure horror. "Oh my god." Steve pulled Tony into him, Tony wrapped his arms around Steve, wanting nothing more than to be with his boyfriend. Steve would make everything ok again. "It's ok Tony, you're ok. Don't worry." Steve soothed, kissing into Tony's hair.

"I feel so used. I'm so stupid."

"You couldn't have done anything to stop him."

Tony sighed and nuzzled into Steve's chest, savouring his warmth. He just wanted to live in peace with Steve, but of course, Tony never got what he wanted. There would always be one thing or another that would fuck things up for them.

"Tony, wake up you need to shower." _When had he fallen asleep?_

"Huh? Oh, ok."

"Are you feeling ok?"

"Better, don't talk about Loki though." He mumbled, sitting up carefully.

"Ok baby, do you want some painkillers or are you alright?"

"No, I'm fine for now." Tony kissed Steve and stood up, walking towards the bathroom.

"Need any help?"

"I think I can manage." Tony smirked sleepily.

"Only trying to be helpful." Steve muttered, picking up the newspaper Tony had bought.

"And I appreciate it very much." Tony walked over and kissed Steve again, lingering for slightly longer this time. He got in and out of the shower, shaved and brushed his teeth within fifteen minutes; it was a new personal best.

"That was quick." Steve noted as Tony stepped out of the bathroom wearing boxers and a vest. He hadn't bothered putting make up on his scars, Steve knew so there was no point in hiding them anymore. Tony saw Steve's eyes flick down to his legs, he didn't complain or fake a smile, he looked happy, proud, almost. "Happy's already here, he's waiting outside."

Tony pulled some smart-ish clothes out of the wardrobe and slipped into them, a little bit awkwardly but it reduced the amount of pain. Steve obviously saw his discomfort, hurrying out of the room and returning with painkillers and a glass of water.

"Thank you."

"Next time just tell me ok?"

"It's embarrassing."

"You've done things that are way more embarrassing, don't worry."

"You're not the one who constantly has to be helped."

"Tony." Steve put on his complainy-moany voice.

"Steve-y." Tony mimicked.

"Just take your medicine old man." Steve joked as he pushed the cup of water into Tony's hands.

"That's rich coming from you, what are you now? 97?"

"90."

"You don't look a day over 80." Tony smirked, taking the medicine.

"Yeah, well I look like a teenager that's been doing it behind a dumpster with this on my neck."

"You can barely see it, it's faded a lot." He walked over to Steve, and leaned up to kiss his neck.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah, what about the cakes and the beer?"

"Already in the car."

"Awesome." Tony walked out of the door and into the hall. "Peter, we're going!"

"Have fun!" Peter yelled back.


	29. Chapter 27

**A/N - Sorry I haven't updated in a while - I've been really busy!**

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They got into the car where Happy was waiting, thankfully there were no pesky paparazzi outside so they just hopped into the car. Nat and Clint's house was about fifteen minutes away, just past the shop. They got there a little bit before seven.

"Which floor is it?" Tony asked, calling the elevator.

"Uh – 9, I think?"

"You don't sound too sure." Tony stepped into the alright-looking elevator. The apartment block didn't look too tacky, it was better than where Bruce used to live anyway.

"It was either floor 9 or apartment 9 and I'm sure Nat said to not bother taking the stairs and if it was apartment 9 then it would be on the ground floor. Also I'm fairly sure there's not going to be a floor 926."

"Whoa there, Sherlock."

"You asked!"

"How many people do you think had sex in this elevator?"

"Tony, seriously, shut up."

"Maybe we could add to the number? Or Christen it."

"You'd hurt yourself."

"So if I didn't have broken ribs you'd consider it?"

"No."

"Aw, why?"

"Not long enough."

"Steven Grant Rogers. What has happened to your innocence?" Tony gasped over dramatically.

"Side effect of dating Anthony Edward Stark." Steve bounced back the full name, he knew Tony hated it. "Number 926, she said it was to the left." Steve pointed out the lift. They found the apartment and knocked on the door.

"Hey guys!" Clint smiled as he opened the door.

"Hi, we have beer and cupcakes." Tony said as he stepped into the apartment. It wasn't as small as he thought it would be but it was nothing compared to the space Steve and Tony had.

"Cool, go put them over there." Clint nodded towards where Nat was standing in the kitchen.

"Where should I put these?" Tony asked Natasha.

"Oh, uh – in the fridge." Nat opened the fridge and gestured Tony to put them in. She glanced over to where Steve and Clint were talking happily before turning back to Tony. "Did you tell him?"

"Yeah, he knew I was upset so he asked me about it."

"What did he say?" Nat asked as Tony hopped onto one of the counters.

"Not a lot, I didn't want to talk about it, he'll probably say something later."

"What happened then?"

"We just sort of hugged and then I fell asleep on him. He's surprisingly squidgy, I mean he's got rock hard abs but I don't know – he's very sleepable."

"Sometimes I kind of wish Clint was more like that. I mean he's amazing but when I'm upset or something he just sort of listens – which is nice – but he doesn't comfort me or anything. He's quite distant."

"It took us a while when we first started dating, I think it was when we started sharing a bed we got a bit more touchy feely and that was a couple of months in."

"Would you count five months as a couple? And before that on and off."

"Do you argue? I know it sounds wrong but I always feel closer to him after."

"Not really, we can't, it would mess up a job and Fury would split us up. I would prefer working with Clint than having a better relationship."

"Oh, well. I'm sorry, why don't you try and talk to him about it?"

"I might. Do you want anything to drink?"

"I'm alright for now, thanks."

"Steve?" Natasha poked her head through the door.

"Yep?"

"Do you want a drink?"

"Please, have you got any water?"

"No Steve, their house doesn't have a tap." Tony called from the kitchen. Steve just rolled his eyes and started talking to Clint again.

"Take this to your boyfriend would you?" Natasha passed Tony a glass of water.

"Sure." Tony jumped off the counter and walked into the living room, the room consisted of two couches and a TV as well as a couple of photos scattered around. Tony handed Steve the water and sat down next to him, Steve pulled Tony closer to him, probably trying to hide his neck.

"So uh - you two have been having fun." Clint nodded towards Steve; Tony was going to really enjoy this.

"No, no. We haven't had sex, well I mean we have had sex but not recently we can't because of Tony's ribs we were just on the couch – we definitely didn't have sex we were-"

"Steve, honey?" Tony interrupted him when he felt Steve had suffered enough.

"Shut up? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"Clint, go and check on the food." Natasha entered and gave Clint a beer as they passed each other.

"I see what you mean about no arguments."

"We're used to taking orders." Natasha shrugged as she took Clint's place on the couch opposite Steve and Tony. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Hospital, hospital, hospital er – went home, bed, bed, bed."

"Watched a film." Steve reminded Tony.

"Yeah, then a doctor visited us this morning, then we made cakes, I worked a bit, I think Steve went to the gym then I went out, came back and got ready."

"Sounds thrilling."

"It really was, did you hear anything from SHIELD about Loki?" Tony knew the others wouldn't bring up this topic so he decided to, besides it's better than describing their extremely boring life at the moment.

"Uh – I think they managed to crack the whole female thing, something Coulson did. They hadn't found out his plan or what he was even trying to do when I spoke to them."

"He told us though."

"I didn't say anything about that, I didn't know if you wanted them knowing – they'd probably want the full story."

"It's fine, I'm fine. You can tell them, it would help them."

"Tony, are you sure?" Steve gave him a look which screamed _we are going to talk about this later_, much to Tony's delight.

"Yeah, of course I'm sure. Stop worrying about me Steve I'm fine."

"Last time you said you were fine you went into a coma shortly after."

"Alright ladies." Natasha intervened before Tony could retort back.

"So, what are we eating?" Steve changed the subject.

"Chicken, I think. I'm not sure, Clint made it. I can't cook."

"Don't worry, all the cool people can't." Tony smirked.

"We did make cupcakes today."

"Did I just hear Captain America say 'cupcakes'? Oh my god."

"See! I'm not the only one that thinks it's adorable."

"I was thinking more along the lines of weird."

"Each to their own." Tony shrugged, smiling when Steve put his arm around Tony's shoulders.

"Seriously? I can't believe you two could actually break-up. How did you keep your hands off of each other?"

"Well," Tony started teasingly.

"Tony." Steve warned, already knowing Tony might actually tell Nat about the café incident.

"Yes dear?"

"Be quiet."

"Ok." Tony pouted. He turned back to Natasha who was smiling knowingly.

"Food's ready!" Clint shouted from the kitchen.


	30. Chapter 28

**A/N - I managed to update sooner this time- yay! Thank you or the reviews, and I agree, I think we al need to hear Steve say cupcakes!:)**

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They sat down and ate, Natasha insisted Tony sat diagonally from Steve so there'd be no 'footsie' under the table. So Steve sat next to Nat and Tony sat next to Clint. They all talked about Peru and hospitals and Peter for a while and then the subject turned to Bruce, then weddings, then marriage. Brilliant.

"So, do you want to get married?" Steve asked, Tony had to think of a conversation changer fast.

"We talked about it."

"It's way too early yet though." Clint nodded in agreement. "What about you_?" No no no, damn you Clint. _Steve was looking at Tony for an answer, he didn't want to upset Steve but he couldn't lie because Steve knew he had already said no.

"I don't know – I think - It's a big thing, I can't just say yes or no now, if I said I wanted to I might change my mind and I wouldn't be able to get out of it. Wait, ignore that, please, don't listen to me. I'll shut up. Maybe, in the future, yes." Tony looked at Steve who just turned away. Tony couldn't tell what Steve was thinking, but it certainly wasn't good.

"What do you think, Steve?" This was starting to sound like counselling.

"I really want to, but if Tony doesn't want to I'm fine with that."

Tony stared into his plate, suddenly he felt really bad, I mean he'd put Steve through loads of shit, way more than he should have to handle. Tony could at least marry him right? But Steve wouldn't want him only saying yes because he felt bad. Tony was going to need to think it through. A lot.

"Sorry." Tony mumbled, he didn't think anyone heard him.

Clint helped Natasha clear away the plates, leaving Tony and Steve together to talk.

"You don't want to get married do you?" He sighed. Tony hated seeing Steve upset, he didn't look sad at the moment but he sounded it. Tony couldn't think of anything to say so he shook his head. "Ok."

"I'll think about it." _He sounded like such a jerk._

"Ok."

Throughout the rest of the evening Tony managed to stay away from the subject of relationships. Steve seemed to forget about the whole marriage thing, or he just got better at hiding his annoyance as the night went on. Clint suggested putting on a movie so they all moved to the living room, Steve chose to sit next to Tony so he couldn't be too angry at him. The movie filled any awkward silence there may have been until Natasha paused it to go and get popcorn and Clint went out to get some more drinks. _Hooray_.

"Are you alright?" Tony smiled.

"Yeah." Steve didn't take his eyes off of the paused TV.

"I'm sorry."

"Tony, just leave it."

"Steve-"

"Look, Tony, if you always wanted to do something and you finally get the chance, you finally meet the one person who can let you do it, who can make you that happy and they say they don't want to do it. How would that make you feel?"

"I said I would think about it, I didn't say no." Tony said sheepishly, not wanting to upset Steve anymore but he knew it was a bad move.

"Oh so you're going to think about it? Like a parent when a kid really really wants something in a toy shop, they say they'll think about it just so the little whiny kid will stop bothering them. Gee thanks Tony."

"I didn't mean it like that, Steve you know what I'm like with relationships, please just let me think about it and I promise I'll tell you."

"Whatever." Steve ended the conversation. Tony decided it would be a good idea to not talk to Steve until he absolutely had too, so he stuck to laughing at Clint's terrible jokes and having three second conversations with Natasha. Eventually Tony had to leave the safety of other people and say goodbye to Clint and Nat.

Steve and Tony got all the way downstairs and out of the apartment block in very awkward silence. What made it worse was when they got to the bottom Happy wasn't there. _Typical._

"He's not answered my text."

"Call him." Steve leaned against a sign post. Tony didn't answer he just dialled Happy's number. It went straight to voicemail. Tony sighed and put the phone back in his pocket. "Maybe he switches it off when he's driving?"

"He doesn't."

"Ok, we'll just wait a couple of minutes and see if he turns up, then try again. Worst comes to the worst we'll get a taxi."

"Sure." Tony smiled.

Twenty minutes later Happy still hadn't turned up so Tony tried his number again. It went straight to voicemail, again.

"I guess we're stuck with each other. Maybe it'll give you some time to 'think'."

"Steve, I'm not going to apologise for something I meant. You asked me a big thing and I want to think it over before I say anything."

"Tony, why can't you just say no if you're going to anyway?"

"I might not though Steve, I said I would think about the whole idea of marriage, you're not involved in that at all. If I wanted to get married of course I'd say yes to you, I'm not sure if I do though Steve. I thought we went over this yesterday?"

"Yeah, well, today it sounded like you didn't want to marry me at all."

"I phrased it wrong. I love you ok, I just don't want to marry anyone. It's way too much commitment. Just let me think about it, please." Steve looked in the opposite direction, so Tony couldn't see his face. "Steve, we're arguing about marriage, it should be happy, not sad. I'm sorry I upset you."

"Ok."

"I'll shut up now."

"Ok."

"Steve I said I was sorry."

"I thought you said you were going to shut up?"

Tony gave up trying to make up with Steve, he obviously needed time to cool off. In the time it took for Happy to arrive Tony tried to think about marriage, he wanted to make Steve happy or at least not as upset, but he couldn't think straight while Steve was pissed off at him.

When Happy did arrive the car journey wasn't exactly a bucket of laughs, they just sat in awkward silence, Steve stared out the window, sitting as far away from Tony as possible. Steve talked to Happy politely but he didn't breathe a word to Tony. He had really put his foot in it.

They crept in as quietly as possible so they didn't wake Peter. Steve got into bed without saying anything to Tony so he assumed he was sleeping on the couch. You know, Tony really should've made more bedrooms in his living area of the tower. Tony pulled a blanket out of the wardrobe and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Steve stopped him.

"Couch."

"No."

"What?"

"Come here." Steve said with some fondness in his voice, he gestured to Tony's side of the bed. Tony slipped into the bed and lay there on his back stiffly. "Tony, relax." Tony rolled onto his side, facing Steve. Steve pecked him on the lips which made Tony feel slightly better. He shuffled closer to Steve and nuzzled into his side, kissing where he could reach.

"I thought you hated me."

"Talk about it tomorrow." Oh, great. More for Tony to worry about overnight.


	31. Chapter 29

**A/N - I don't really like this chapter but oh well!**

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Tony woke up and Steve was gone. He hadn't said he was going anywhere, he checked his phone and looked if Steve had left him a note. He hadn't. Maybe he'd gone, he deserved someone who could give him what he wanted. Tony didn't want to get too panicked yet though.

"JARVIS, where's Steve?"

"He's not currently in the tower and his GPS is switched off." _Ok, time to panic_. Tony dialled Steve's number and he didn't pick up, he tried it again and finally he heard Steve's voice.

"Tony?"

"Steve, where are you?"

"Why?"

"Steve I am so sorry for last night, listen I have an explanation, please say you haven't left, Steve I need you."

"Tony, I'm at the gym." Steve sighed, ok maybe he had overreacted a little.

"Yeah, I know, it was stupid, I'm an idiot." Tony snapped out of his panic almost immediately.

"You're my idiot though."

"Cheesy, but cute. Wait, did you just call me an idiot?"

"You are an idiot."

"You do realise you're talking to a genius?"

"How'd you fry an egg?"

"How do you connect to wifi?"

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

"I've got to go Tony, go back to sleep. Why are you even up this early?" Steve laughed softy.

"I was worrying."

"About what?"

"Last night."

"Sorry Tony, I know I acted like a jerk."

"S'ok, talk about it later?"

"Sure, I've really got to go, I'll be back soon."

"Ok, I love you." The line was quiet and Tony was starting to get anxious that Steve wouldn't say it back.

"I love you too baby." Tony let out the breath he didn't realise he was holding and hung up the phone.

Tony flopped down onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Damn Steve's mood swings. He closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep, Steve was right. It was way too early.

He must've drifted off because he woke up with a blanket thrown over him. He rolled over and noticed a note Steve must have left. "Don't panic, I'm at the shop x" Tony smiled and took the pills Steve had left out for him.

Tony wandered out of the bedroom, glancing at the clock, it was almost midday. Tony turned on the coffee machine and sat down on one of the chairs and slumped across the table. His eyes suddenly felt really heavy, so he just gave into sleep and nodded off again. He had no idea why he was so tired; it was probably his body recovering or something.

When he woke up he had somehow magically been transferred to his bed. Steve had obviously carried him, which would've been embarrassing if he was conscious.

"Steve?" He mumbled into the pillow.

"You awake?" Steve pushed some hair out of Tony's eyes and pulled him up so Tony was lying on his chest. Tony pulled out an arm from underneath him and placed it loosely around Steve's waist.

"Yeah."

"Are you going to go back to sleep?"

"I'll try not to, w'time is it?"

"Half one."

"Do you still hate me?"

"I could never hate you Tony."

"Are you still angry?"

"I was never really angry."

"Yes you were."

"Ok, maybe a little bit."

"You ignored me for the whole night."

"Tony, I'm not going to sugar coat this – I have always wanted to get married. I know our lives won't exactly give us a chance to settle down for a while, but this could at last, I don't know, make me feel more like a normal person. When you said something about changing your mind and not being able to get out, I don't know why but it hurt. I'm sorry about being a uh-."

"Jerk? Dick? Asshole?"

"Yeah, one of them. Take all the time you want to think, I know it's a big thing to ask and I'll still love you even if you say no, I mean we can't always get what we want can we?"

"Steve, do you want to know the only reason I won't marry you. Well there are other reasons why I don't like marriage but-"

"Tell me."

"I don't want to hurt you. If I die and we're married then you'll have to deal with all of it after, the legal side and the emotional side. I don't want to put you through that."

"I understand."

Steve's lips quirked into a slanted smile, Tony lifted his head slightly to meet Steve's eyes, he placed a soft kiss on Steve's lips before resting is head back down on Steve's chest.

"Steve?"

"Uhuh?"

"How am I supposed to uh – feel about Loki u-using me?"

"How do you feel?"

"I-I don't want to exist anymore, I don't want to die, I just don't want to be here."

"Tony don't you dare say that."

"If it was you the stupid potion or whatever wouldn't have worked. Why am I even on the team? Nobody cares about me, if I left the team it would probably make it better. I'm just a human, and I don't even have any sort of special skill, I have let so many people die because of mistakes I've made. I'm not a superhero, I'm a weakness, if it was anyone else on the team it wouldn't have worked. I let Loki take advantage of me." It felt good to tell someone, just to let his inner self-hatred out, but he knew Steve would have something to say about it.

Steve slipped his hands under Tony's arms and hoisted him up so he was sitting on Steve's lap facing him, so Tony had no choice but to look at Steve.

"Listen Tony, you have saved thousands of people, way more than the ones you couldn't save. You've not only saved people you've never met, but you saved my life as well. Yeah – you saved my ass in New York, but after that as well. I had no idea what to do after New York, I had no idea where to go. I was so lost, then all of a sudden you come into my life and it got a hundred times better."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better, Steve I texted you like once a week and most of the time I was drunk out of my mind."

"You gave me something to care about Tony, no matter what time of day it was I would always come and sort you out, take the bottle out of your hand and get you into bed, or at least onto the couch. Then I started checking up on you and actually talking to you when you could respond properly and I always knew you were er – attractive but then I started to fall in love with _you_ you. I don't care about Iron Man or your money or your brain or anything like that, Tony I'm not interested in it, I'm interested in you and loads of other people care about _you_ you too, I know everyone on the team does. You are so brave and you always put yourself at risk, and god I get so worried about you but you always make it because you're a lucky crazy idiot. And I love you."

"Steve, I-"

"Oh, and as for the Loki taking advantage of you Tony, he used magic to change himself into a woman and then he gave you a potion so you would want to have sex with him and apparently even under Loki's spell you resisted it. Tony you are amazing, I don't understand why you can't see that."

Steve pulled Tony into a hug, Tony leaned his head on Steve's shoulder and placed his hands on the small of Steve's back, lightly rubbing circles.

"Why do you always know what to say?" Tony mumbled into Steve's shoulder.

"Because it's the truth." Steve played with Tony's hair and hummed contently when Tony kissed him.

For the rest of the day Tony stayed wrapped up in the comfort of Steve's arms, only leaving him when it was absolutely necessary. Steve was meant to go to work but he phoned SHIELD and told them Tony was feeling really ill and he had to stay with him. It was partly true, Tony didn't feel ok but it wasn't to do with his ribs or anything, he just needed some time to get over what had happened in the past few weeks and he didn't want Steve to leave.


	32. Chapter 30

**A/N - This chapter was really fun to write! **

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Tony did next to nothing for the next two weeks. He finished all he could on creating the speaker but he really needed to get down to his workshop so he could make a prototype but JARVIS had buddied up with Steve and even his override code wouldn't work. He knew it was for the best though, he wanted to get better so he could go out and actually do things instead of going on small walks or moping around at home.

Pepper sent him paperwork and he filled out all of it, every single sheet of paper was signed and dated, comments added where it was highlighted. When he handed it back to Pepper she looked like he had just given her a miniature flying whale or something.

Tony had a lot of time to himself when Steve was at work and Peter was at school, so he did what he promised Steve he would do. He thought long and hard about marriage, he knew loads of people that felt trapped once they were married and any form of emotional bond disintegrated once they were legally stuck together. He looked it up on the internet and he found that most people had hard times with money, but that would never be a problem for them.

Although, he found that the pros far outweighed the cons. Tony would have the security he had always wanted deep down, to have a family that wouldn't suddenly leave him. He found a site on the internet that outlined the five things apparently needed for a 'good marriage': communication, respect, trust, honesty and love. He knew marriage was different for everyone, but if a stranger on the internet says that's what you need, then that's what you need.

Steve and Tony ticked every single one of those boxes and Tony realised that they were already kind of married anyway, they told each other everything, they trusted one another with their lives on a daily basis, they lived together, they definitely argued like a married couple, they had a son and they were always there for each other.

Then Tony started getting excited. He wanted to get married. He'd never thought of the actual getting married big celebration thing. All their friends would be there and Steve would be so unbelievably happy. It made Tony happy just thinking of how happy Steve's going to be.

When Steve was out Tony would get out his notebook and plan how he was going to propose to Steve down to the very last detail. He decided he would make the ring himself using a piece of his arc reactor because it's romantic and cliché but Steve loved that kind of stuff.

He decided he would wait a while before he would actually propose and anyway he needed to get down to his workshop to actually make the ring. He thought about proposing on their yay-Tony-doesn't-have-broken-ribs-anymore date without a ring but he decided against it. He just wanted a nice quiet evening out with Steve with not a lot of drama.

Of course, in Tony Stark's world not a lot of drama never went down well. The actual date went fine, they ate good food and they talked and laughed and generally enjoyed each other's company but the on the walk back home some stupid twat decided it would be a great idea to ruin Tony's recently restored self-confidence.

"Hey, look, it's a pair of fags." Tony heard some thug call from an alley, Tony just tightened his grip on Steve's hand and ignored it, he was used to it by now. "Pussy's, you won't even fight me. Run home with your boyfriend, oh and do us all a favour and kill yourself." Tony didn't know why, but that made him really angry.

"What did you just say?" Tony untangled his hand from Steve's and walked over to the alleyway where the sick coward was hiding.

"Oh, so you're not so much of a pussy now, but you're still a fucking fag." He spat. Tony shoved him up against a wall and held him there. He was just a kid, Tony would never fight him but he could at least teach him a little bit of a lesson.

"Tony, don't let him get to you." Steve tried to pull him away but Tony just shrugged him off.

"Listen to your pathetic little boyfriend."

"Say whatever the fuck you want about me but if you say anything about him again swear to god I will kill you. You see that guy over there? You may not recognise him but he's Captain America."

"Shit. That makes you-"

"Yeah, that's right. Listen you little fuck, He's one of the best men you'll ever meet, so don't you dare call him pathetic. He's done way more for this country, actually, the whole world, than you could ever dream of doing.

Is this your idea of fun, getting kicks out of bullying people? Trying to get under their skin? Well congratulations, you've succeeded. Feels great doesn't it? You think you're big, but you're not. You're a small, little, boy.

If you ever say anything about him or me or any of my friends I will crush you like an ant. I don't usually let people like you get to me, but you hit a nerve. That man," Tony pointed at Steve "is the greatest thing to ever happen to me, and if you or anyone else for that matter decides to start saying things that just aren't true then they're going to have to deal with me." Tony kneed the kid in the balls, he folded over in pain but Tony slammed him back against the wall.

"Tony! Walk away." Steve commanded, Tony released his grip on the kid and let him fall to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Steve asked the kid. The kid nodded, too out of breath to speak. Steve tried to help the boy up but he winced away from Steve.

"Don't touch me, fag."

Tony went to kick the boy in the face but Steve grabbed his leg and stopped him. Amazingly Tony somehow managed to keep his balance, if he had fallen it would've done some serious damage to his ribs. Steve glared at him and Tony sat down, the kid wasn't worth beating up.

"All you queers deserve to be shot in the head." _The kid just didn't stop did he_? It took every ounce of Tony's strength not to hit the boy. He didn't know why Steve insisted on helping him, it was probably to do with some Captain America moral buried deep inside of him.

When the boy managed to stand up again with the help of the wall Steve decided they could leave. He grabbed Tony's hand and pulled him up, dragging him away from the alley. Tony looked behind him briefly and the boy was staggering out of the alley in the opposite direction.

Technically Tony had won their 'fight' but the idiot's words had already gotten to him. He knew he shouldn't believe what he said but he did, he felt like he deserved to die.

"Tony you can't just beat up people who insult you."

"I didn't, I kicked him in the balls because he insulted you, not me."

"Did you really mean what you said?"

"I said a lot of things."

"You said I was the best thing that ever happened to you."

"Yeah, I meant that."

The rest of the walk back to the tower was in silence, Tony felt so freaking triggered. He tried to get those thoughts out of his mind but he couldn't, they were always there and they wouldn't let up. Steve knew something was different, but he'd never been around before when Tony was triggered so he didn't know, well Tony hoped he didn't know and just thought Tony was being grumpy or something.


	33. Chapter 31

**A/N - More smut in the next chapter - I promise!**

**TRIGGER WARNING: SH**

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As soon as they got back Tony headed straight for his workshop, he had to threaten to break down the door just so JAVIS would let him in. He went for the drawer where he kept his two spare blades, he had given Steve his main box but he wasn't stupid, he knew he would need spares. He rummaged around in the drawer for a while but he couldn't find them. He ended up throwing the drawer on the ground and running out of the workshop.

"JARVIS, where's Steve?" Tony yelled when he got up to the 24th floor, he didn't have to worry about Peter hearing because thankfully he was staying over at Gwen's house again.

"I'm here, why?" Steve walked out of their bedroom.

"Where have you put them?"

"What?"

"The two in my workshop, they're not there." As Tony was talking Steve's face dropped, he knew exactly what Tony was meaning.

"Tony, sit down. You don't want to do this."

"Steve, give me the fucking box or I swear I will-"

"You'll do what Tony? Hit me? Fine, go ahead, do anything just not that."

Tony raised his fist and Steve just stood there, he thought he saw Steve flinch a little as he moved his fist to lower it. He could never hit Steve.

"Steve, please, I have to. I know it's a huge thing to ask, but give me the box. I need to do this."

"No you don't Tony, this shouldn't even be an option."

"What am I supposed to do then?" Tony felt bad for shouting at Steve, he didn't deserve it.

"Can I touch you?" It sounded like a stupid question but at the moment Tony really didn't want to be touched by anyone, somehow Steve knew that. Tony shook his head, he didn't want to lash out at Steve or something like that. "Will you follow me then?" Tony nodded, Steve turned on his heel and headed to the elevator. Tony followed Steve inside of the elevator but he didn't see what button Steve had pressed.

The doors rolled open and revealed the gym area Tony had built in for Steve as a welcome to your new home present. It was a little over the top but the other avengers trained in there whenever they wanted to as well.

Steve handed him some bandages, Tony knew what he was trying to get him to do. It was worth a shot if Steve thought it would help him, so he bandaged up his fists and chose a punching bag.

Steve watched as Tony hit the bag as hard as he could, it felt good so he gave it another try, then again and again. About fifty punches later he slumped down on the floor, he felt better about himself. It had worked a little bit, he felt like he could talk to Steve without shouting at him this time.

"Ok?" Steve smiled, walking to over to Tony and sitting down next to him.

"Yeah." Tony panted, shuffling slightly closer to Steve.

"Next time you feel like that just tell me, I'll try and make it better."

"M'used to dealing with it on my own." Tony leaned his head on Steve's shoulder, giving his neck a quick kiss.

"I know, but you don't have to have all of that weight on you anymore, you can talk to me about it and I can help you."

"Why did you side with him?"

"Tony you shoved him against a wall and kicked him in the balls!"

"He deserved it."

"He did, but we're meant to help people not hurt them."

"Screw you."

"I know, you hate me and I'm the worst boyfriend ever."

Steve had the ability to make Tony giggle when he felt like he could never smile again, he didn't know why but Steve just made him really unexplainably happy whenever he was near.

"Yeah, but you're pretty damn cute."

"You're not too bad yourself."

"Sorry 'bout ruining our evening, I know this isn't the way you thought it would end."

"I'd take cuddling over sex any day." That pretty much summed up Steve.

"I love you." Tony mumbled, Tony tossed his hand onto Steve's lap. Steve carefully picked it up and began to take off the bandages.

"I love you too." Steve gestured to Tony to give him his other hand, Tony gave it to him although he was perfectly capable of doing it himself.

"How did you find out where I put the spare two?"

"I asked JARVIS if there were any more."

"Why does he always take your side?" Tony mock-pouted.

"Because you're a reckless jerk and we're here to keep you safe."

"Fair enough." Tony nodded.

"Do you want to go to sleep, watch a film or stay here for a bit?"

"We have a meeting tomorrow don't we?"

"Surprised you remembered, but yeah, it's the long over-due debrief and some other stuff Fury wants to moan about."

"Sounds fun."

"Sleep, film or stay?"

"Sleep."

"Ok, well you're going to have to get in the shower first 'cause I'm not going to sleep next to you when you're all sweaty."

"I'm not sweaty."

"Yes you are, c'mon." Steve stood up and offered Tony his hand, Tony took it and hopped to his feet.

Steve managed to get Tony into the shower with some gentle persuasion, Tony didn't really want to go to bed sweaty anyway but watching Steve grow more and more frustrated with him made him laugh. He was so easy to wind up.


	34. Chapter 32

**A/N - Hope you don't mind the extremely long chapter! **

**Warnings: Smut**

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When he got out of the shower Steve had changed into some old trackies and he was much to Tony's delight: topless.

"And what have I done to deserve this pleasure?"

"I was hot."

"Uh huh." Tony climbed onto the bed, sat next to Steve, still staring at his abs.

Steve lifted Tony's chin, averting his gaze, Tony was about to protest when Steve's lips crushed against his, effectively shutting him up.

Tony scrambled to get closer to Steve, settling on his lap. Steve's hands gripped onto Tony's lower back but as he shuffled they slipped down to Tony's ass. Tony pulled back smirking "Take me to dinner at least."

"We just went out for dinner."

"Yes but that was me taking you out."

"Shut up." Steve giggled, capturing Tony's lips in a kiss again, not moving his hands from Tony's ass.

Steve began working on Tony's neck, sucking, licking and biting just like Tony had done a couple of weeks before. Tony had completely forgotten about their little deal but Steve hadn't.

"Uh Steve, meeting tomorrow."

"I know. We had a deal." Tony cocked his head to the side in confusion, but this just gave Steve more space to suck an even more visible bruise, Tony wrapped his arms around Steve's neck and let him do what he wanted, he liked it when Steve left marks anyway. It showed everyone he was taken and he was happy. Steve kissed the hot, wet patch of skin before taking Tony's lips in his own again. "Now we're even."

Tony would've been embarrassed about getting half-hard from just a hickey and a couple of kisses but he could feel Steve beneath him and he was definitely enjoying this as much as Tony was. They hadn't been this close and intimate in months, although it felt like years.

Steve slipped his fingers into the waistband of Tony's boxers as he was leaving kisses up Tony's neck. "I thought we were meant to be sleeping, what happened to cuddling over sex?" Tony laughed softly, pulling on Steve's hair when he gave him a slightly less than gentle nip on his neck. It wasn't an ow-Steve-you-hurt-me pull it was more of a stop-being-cheeky-and-answer-my-question-you-dick pull.

"I think we both prefer this over sleeping."

"Yep, you're right." Tony pulled Steve into another kiss but Steve pulled away after a couple of seconds. Tony was about to be confused but then Steve shoved Tony's boxers off and tossed them across the room. "Oh." Tony breathed, nuzzling into Steve's neck when he started pumping his cock. Tony could feel himself getting harder and harder with every twist and pull of Steve's hand.

Steve played with the hem of Tony's vest, knowing to wait for permission; Tony hated taking his top off while the scars were still red.

"No." Tony shook his head, he knew Steve wouldn't care but something told him seeing the scars might put Steve off. Steve immediately dropped the vest in favour of steadying Tony on his lap. Tony kissed around Steve's ear and played with his hair, rocking into Steve's touch.

Then he thought about it, he realised that Steve probably didn't give two shits about what Tony looked like unlike the rest of the world. "Actually, fuck it." Tony ripped off his vest and chucked it off the bed. Steve smiled and pecked Tony on the lips, too softy for what they were doing but it felt right.

"Lie down." Steve commanded. Tony did as he said, by now he was used to Steve taking control in bed, he kind of liked not having to worry about anything for a while. Steve kissed around the sensitive skin of his arc reactor, it made Tony shiver, Steve's warm lips against the cold scar tissue.

Steve then kissed down Tony's chest, settling at his thighs. "You're going to let me do anything I want to you, unless you safe word. Ok?" Steve's breath was warm against his thigh, a hand wandering over his scars.

"Yes, fuck yes, Steve, please."

"What's the safe word?"

"Uh – S-stop, yeah, it's stop. Shit Steve, touch me already."

"It wouldn't hurt to be patient." Steve smirked, he really enjoyed it when he could keep Tony like this, completely at his mercy.

Tony let out a shaky breath, he knew if he asked Steve to do anything it would just take longer. Steve kissed up and down Tony's thigh before spreading his legs a little. Steve took the head of Tony's cock into his mouth. Tony wouldn't even deny his groan, it had been so long since they had done this and it felt amazing.

Tony tried to yank Steve down, to take more of him into his perfect mouth but Steve pulled off him completely. "Let me take my time, I'll make it worth your while." Steve placed both of Tony's hands above his head. "Keep them there until I say you can move them." Tony nodded but Steve wanted a vocal answer. "Ok?"

"Yes, yeah, o-ok."

"Good boy."

Steve didn't torture Tony for too much longer, Steve took most of Tony's length in his mouth, hands making up for where he couldn't reach. Tony's eyes rolled back into his head from pleasure, all he could think was Steve, Steve, Steve. He ran his tongue down Tony's entire length before taking him back into his mouth again.

"Fuck Steve, feels so good." Tony moaned as Steve's head bobbed up and down on his cock, he opened his eyes to see Steve staring up at him, he looked so beautiful, a thin layer of sweat forming on his brow, his blonde hair falling everywhere. Tony squirmed on the bed, scrambling to get a grip on something more than just sheets; he gave up and grabbed Steve's hair. Steve pulled away again.

"Hands."

"Suck my dick." Tony smiled lazily, not wanting to give in to Steve as easily this time.

"Not until you move your hands." Steve moved up to straddle Tony's waist, Tony's hands fell around his neck, and he pulled Steve down for a kiss.

"Why?"

"You always try and move things too quickly." Steve whispered against Tony's lips "And I always give in."

"Ok, ok, ok, you win. Oh my god, you're so hot." Tony muttered, Steve grinned and moved back down to Tony's cock.

"Hands," Steve nodded to Tony's arms which were by his side "above your head."

"Seriously?" In answer Steve moved both of Tony's hands and put them above his head. Steve's eyes then set on Tony's achingly hard cock. Without giving him any warning Steve took his cock back in his mouth.

Steve's fingers were digging into Tony's hips, keeping him still on the bed. Tony tried to muffle his moans, not wanting Steve to see how easily he could tear him apart. He closed his eyes and let his whole world revolve around Steve. _It was perfect._

"F-fuck, Steve, going to-" Tony mumbled, biting down on his lip. Steve just hummed around Tony's cock, speeding up his pace a little. Tony tried to hold on for longer, but he couldn't. Steve knew exactly how to push Tony's buttons. Tony let go and came into Steve's mouth, trembling slightly as his orgasm rippled through him.

Steve swallowed around Tony's cock, licking up the come dribbling out of it. Steve lay down next to Tony, kissing across his cheek until Tony moved his head so Steve could reach his lips. Steve tasted of sex and sweat and come and just ugh, it was amazing. Steve's hands found their way to Tony's ass, his finger traced Tony's hole teasingly.

"D'you reckon you could go again?"

"Hmph, don't I get any time to recover?" Tony murmured, sloppily kissing Steve's neck. Steve reached across the bed to Tony's drawer, he pulled out some lube and flipped open the cap. Tony didn't know how he hadn't noticed it before but Steve was naked and painfully hard against his stomach. Somehow Steve had a crazy amount of patience in bed, he could sit and make Tony feel so good for ages without touching his own cock.

"Sorry." Steve smiled playfully, kissing Tony quickly before sitting up again and flipping Tony onto his front.

"No you're not." Tony's face was buried in the sheet, Steve pulled Tony's hips up and kissed down his back.

"Ready?"

"Yeah." Tony breathed, fingers curling into the sheets. Steve spread Tony's legs wider before pushing in a single digit, Tony couldn't help clenching around Steve's finger. "Shit, fuck, sorry."

"It's ok baby, relax." Steve drew back his finger then pushed it in again slowly.

"A-add another, I can take it." In response Steve angled his finger better and curled it slightly, brushing Tony's prostate. Steve slipped the finger out completely, Tony shuffled uncomfortably at the loss. "Steveee." He whimpered.

Steve pushed in two fingers, earning a gasp from Tony. Steve scissored his fingers, widening Tony's hole, he groaned at the stretch, but he knew it would hurt more later if they didn't do this know so he let Steve do what he needed to without complaining too much.

Tony's breath hitched as Steve added a third finger. "Steve, m'ready, please, I need you inside me."

"What do you want?" Steve growled against Tony's ear.

"I-I, you know what I want."

"Say it."

"I want you to fuck me, I want to feel you inside me, God Steve, you're amazing, I love you so much, please, fuck me."

Steve pressed a kiss to the small of Tony's back, removed his fingers and flipped Tony onto his back. Tony's hands shot to Steve's neck and pulled him down for a kiss, it was messy and sloppy but it was what Tony wanted. Steve tried to find the lube without breaking the kiss but he couldn't, he pulled away and found the lube which was hidden under the sheets.

Steve slicked up his cock and hooked Tony's legs around his shoulders, he felt Steve's dick nudge Tony's hole but Steve didn't push in.

"Can I?"

"Yeah, do it." Tony confirmed, wrapping his hand around Steve's thigh.

Steve pushed in slowly, Tony enjoyed the subtle burn but he really fucking loved the feeling of being so damn full. He momentarily forgot why they hadn't done this in ages, but then it came back to him. Conventions, cheating and broken ribs don't mix well with sex.

Tony's grip around Steve's thigh tightened as he slammed in and out of Tony, on anyone else he would've left bruises, but not on Steve, which kind of pissed him off a little.

Tony let go of the safety of Steve's thigh in favour of pulling Steve into a kiss, Steve bit down on Tony's lip as he thrust into Tony particularly hard. Tony's cry was muffled by Steve's mouth, kissing him fiercely. People tend to think Steve Rogers would be soft in bed but he definitely wasn't, and Tony loved it.

When they first had sex it was clumsy and awkward, they were both desperate to touch each other and neither really knew what they were doing. Their first time Steve had bottomed and Tony was on top, it was fine when Steve had no clue what to do but then he got more experience and became the toppiest bottom ever, he always wanted to have control, so they switched. Occasionally they swapped around but they both liked it better this way.

"Fuck Tony, you're so tight and hot, s-shit." Steve moaned as he rammed into Tony again, they found a rhythm and stuck with it. Tony would meet Steve's thrusts halfway, rocking into him as gently as he could. This way Steve hit Tony's prostate with every thrust, making words spill out of Tony's mouth as well as moans and groans and gasps.

"T-there, oh fuck, so good."

"I know baby." Steve whispered before kissing Tony, his hand reaching down to stroke Tony's cock. He wasn't fully hard, but he would probably come if Steve kept doing what he was doing.

Steve's hand matched his thrusts and Tony could've sworn he saw stars. It was impossible to think Steve was a virgin less than a year ago, he was a quick learner. Or Tony was a good teacher. It was probably a mix of both.

Tony could feel another orgasm building up, Steve sensed it somehow and he speeded up his thrusts and his hand. Tony thought he could hold on a bit longer, but then he realised there was no point trying, Steve was unbelievably close too.

He looked up at Steve's face, his pupils were blown, a thin circle of baby blue surrounding them. Tony really liked Steve's eyes, well he liked all of Steve, but his eyes were one of the best physical things, as well as his hair, and his lips, and his abs, and his arms, ok Tony just really liked Steve.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, shit. I love you so much Steve."

"Come, fuck Tony, I need to see you come."

Tony didn't need much more encouragement than that; his come spilt all over Steve's hand and Tony's chest. Tony didn't have much time to concentrate on the mess he made because Steve was still pounding into him, and god it felt good.

Steve filled him, quietly moaning out Tony's name. Steve pulled out carefully, but Tony still whimpered at the loss of Steve inside of him. He caught Steve's lips in a kiss, wanting to savour this moment for a little bit longer before Steve trotted off to find a towel.

Steve rolled off of him and to the side, Tony curled around him, littering kisses on his chest. "I love you." Tony smiled.

"I love you too." Steve kissed the top of Tony's head. It was moments like this Tony really enjoyed. He didn't have to be Iron Man or Tony Stark, all he had to be was himself, it was cheesy and cliché but Steve liked him for himself, and at home, with Steve, is where he could truly be himself without media or expectations getting in the way.

"Remind me why I had a shower?"

"Shut up." Steve laughed, getting up and wandering into the bathroom.

Steve came back, holding a towel and his hair looked a little tidier "Clean yourself up." Steve tossed Tony the towel, he did a half-hearted job before throwing it back. "I'm going to have to change the sheets tomorrow."

"I'll do it." Tony mumbled into a pillow.

"Really?"

"No."

Steve crawled under the covers and wrapped himself around Tony, he sighed happily before closing his eyes.

Tony shuffled under Steve, getting more comfortable. He smiled to himself before drifting off to sleep.


	35. Chapter 33

**A/N - Yay I managed to update fairly quickly!**

**TW: SH**

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His happiness and comfort didn't last long though, throughout the night he was haunted by Loki and New York. He was used to those nightmares by now, he just woke himself up moved impossibly closer to Steve and fell back to sleep. What he wasn't used to were the dreams of Steve, being tortured and screaming for help but Tony couldn't do anything to stop it. Every time he woke up and fell back to sleep the dream would play again in his mind. Someone kept stabbing him, his blood was dripping down and he was begging Tony for help.

He knew he had started crying, and he desperately tried to wipe away the tears. It was horrible. He thought about waking up Steve but he didn't want to talk to him about it. So he put up with the cold sweat and the pounding headache and the constant flashes of seeing Steve bleed out and slowly die, screeching for help but all Tony could do was stand there and watch.

Usually Tony got pissed off at Steve's early alarm, but not today. Steve got out of bed first, put on some clothes and wandered into the kitchen, a couple of minutes after Tony got up, pulled on a pair of trackies and one of Steve's hoodies, because your boyfriends hoodies are always better than your own, and walked out into the kitchen.

Steve was facing away from Tony, so he didn't notice him at first. Steve's hair was still messed up from the night before, Tony smiled despite his mood. _Last night was a pretty good memory. _Until Tony's mind fucked it up.

Tony sat down at the table and held his head in his hands, he really didn't feel good.

"Oh G-god, you scared me." Steve jumped, Tony would've laughed if he wasn't so stressed out. "Why are you up so early?"

"I uh - had a bad night."

"Was it about what we did? I didn't think you'd be up for it, I should've stopped it. I'm so sorry Tony."

"What? No, I wanted to have sex. I had a nightmare."

"You should've woken me up."

"I didn't want to talk about it."

"Ok, do you want to come on a jog with me? It'll take your mind off things." Steve pushed a mug of coffee into his hands, pressing a kiss to his temple.

"Thanks, but I just want some time to myself." Tony knew he sounded like an asshole but he didn't really care, he needed to be alone.

"Ok baby, I'll be twenty minutes." Steve kissed Tony's cheek and disappeared into the elevator.

As soon as Steve was gone Tony downed his coffee and headed down to the workshop. His code worked now so he didn't have to yell at JARVIS. In the middle of his workshop was the broken suit, physically it was fixed thanks to JARVIS and Dum-E but he knew it wouldn't work if he put it on. It depressed him just looking at it, so he decided against fixing it.

Instead he ran back upstairs and pulled out his notebook from its hiding place. He flicked it open to the page where he had designed Steve's ring. It would've taken JARVIS five minutes to make it with the help of Dum-E but he wanted to make it himself.

First he took out his arc reactor and then removed a thin strip of metal surrounding the outside of the core. He took a small enough amount that it would still work, but a big enough amount to make part of the ring.

The core wasn't actually blue, so once Tony had melted it down he added some blue dye. He made the main base of the ring out of titanium, so the blue complimented the silver nicely. Tony made a mould for the ring, and poured both of the molten metals in. Now all he had to do was wait for it to cool down.

After he had finished making the ring he felt better, working took his mind off of his other problems. And he hadn't been in his workshop to properly work in months.

Tony started on the suit, then after he fixed that, he tinkered with his cars, then he played around with an idea for a new suit. Whenever he finished something he'd start something new so he was always busy.

At some point Steve knocked on the door, Tony didn't even hear him over the music until he commanded JARVIS to mute.

"What?" Tony took off his welding mask.

"You've been down here for four hours and you haven't eaten anything all day."

"Four hours?" Tony honestly thought he had only been down there for about one.

"Yeah, so I brought you some toast."

"Oh, thanks."

"I'm going to head off to SHIELD, you need to have a shower, get dressed and get your butt to the meeting in an hour. Don't be late."

"Ok, I'll finish this then I'll be right up."

"Tony." Steve gave him a stern look.

"Fine." Tony put down his tools and cleared up a bit, not forgetting the notebook, before walking upstairs with Steve, eating as they went.

"Please don't be late."

"I won't be, don't worry."

"JARVIS?"

"Mr Hogan has been notified and will take Mr Stark by force if necessary."

"Good, I'll see you later, ok?"

Tony kissed Steve, and then gave him a little shove towards the elevator. "Bye." Tony smirked like a smitten idiot, ok, he was a smitten idiot.

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

"It felt good to get back to work."

"Don't go back down there, you'll miss the meeting."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Tony."

"Ok!"

"Go get in the shower."

"Love you."

"I love you too."

Tony went to where he usually hid his notebook, as he was walking away something caught his eye. It was a box, but it wasn't just a box it was _the _box. Out of curiosity Tony opened the box expecting there to be no blades in there. Instead he found a note, on top of some photos.

_Dear Tony,_

_I guess you're reading this because you feel upset, lonely or angry._

_I want you to know that lots of people love you, including me._

_You're recovering and I know you're going to slip up, it will take time, and we have to be patient._

_If it feel like you have to self-harm then be safe, I know it sounds stupid but don't put yourself in danger._

_I'm probably not with you right now so please go and find me and if I'm not in the house call me or text me, I can try and make you feel better._

_I love you more than words could ever say._

_Steve x_

Underneath was photos of Steve and Tony on dates or the occasional cut out from a newspaper, there were also photos of Tony and Peter and the whole Avengers team together on nights out. Steve had put some Band-Aids in the bottom along with one blade. He smiled to himself and put the box back where he found it, he would need it one day.


	36. Chapter 34

**A/N - Thought I'd treat you to a nice, long and slightly painful chapter!:)**

* * *

He got in the shower then got dressed into some more sensible clothes, just as he had finished getting ready Happy arrived.

"Hi Happy."

"I thought it would take a lot more than that to get you out the door."

"What do you mean? I love meetings." Tony grinned. "But hold on two seconds I need to book something, JARVIS?"

"Yes, Mr Stark?"

"Can you book a table at Steve's favourite restaurant, the one by the river in Brooklyn for Sunday night?"

"Certainly, Mr Stark."

"Alright Happy, let's go."

He followed Happy outside and into the car, Happy seemed genuinely surprised when Tony hopped into the car without any hassle.

"What's happening on Sunday?"

"I'm proposing to Steve."

"What?!"

"I know, don't talk about it. It makes me nervous thinking about it."

When they got to SHIELD he went up to where he remembered Steve's office was, it took a bit of wandering around but he got there eventually.

"Hey, honey." Tony pushed the door open.

"You're actually early." Steve got up and walked towards Tony, looking at his watch.

"I told you I wouldn't be late." He met Steve halfway planting a kiss on his lips. "How long have I got to wait?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Happy really did leave a lot of extra time to drag me out of my workshop kicking and screaming."

"I asked him to, I can't believe I got you out of there so easily earlier."

"I'm in a good mood." Tony took a seat by Steve's desk.

"M'glad, I was worried about you this morning." Steve sat down behind his desk and fiddled with a pen.

"I can't even remember the dream." _I wish I couldn't._

Steve nodded and continued filling out the form he was working on before Tony interrupted. Tony played on his phone and waited for Steve to finish.

"Fury might bring up the Loki incident." Steve stated as he put his pen down.

"That's ok."

"Is it? I can ask him to talk to you privately if you want."

"I'm a big boy I can deal with these things."

"Ok, don't stress yourself out though. If you can't deal with it, tell him."

"I'll be fine."

"Alright then, let's go." Steve stood up and waited for Tony by the door.

"Where are we going?" Tony poked his head out of the door, waiting for Steve to guide him. The only reason he ever came to SHIELD offices was for Steve and the occasional meeting.

"Left, the meeting hall is on this floor so just follow the corridor." Steve took his hand and dragged him in the right direction.

They were the first ones there so Tony looped his arm around Steve's waist and rested his head on Steve's shoulder.

"I'm bored."

"The meeting hasn't even started yet."

"It's still boring." Tony mumbled while leaning up to kiss Steve's cheek.

"Try and pay attention." Steve turned in Tony's arms, wrapping his arms around Tony's neck. Steve caught Tony's lips in a proper kiss, Tony pulled him forward desperately trying to get more contact.

"Get a room." Clint mumbled as he walked down the corridor. Tony took no notice of him but pulled back and rested his forehead on Steve's, occasionally pecking Steve's lips.

"Don't wind him up." Steve said so softly only Tony could hear. Tony laughed a bit before pulling away, one arm still around Steve's waist.

Natasha arrived exactly one minute later, which was a little too precise, he let it slide though seeing as he hadn't been condescendingly questioned about his hickey. Bruce and Thor walked in together, talking about something to do with biology, which was Tony's weakest science so he paid no attention to it. Finally Fury arrived, in his usual grumpy mood.

"Go in ladies." Fury ushered them through the door.

Tony sat next to Steve as he usually did, it was pretty much the only way to get Tony through meetings without him complaining that much.

"Alright, now, most of you have had a bit of a debrief apart from Stark."

"Well I'm sorry I was busy being dead." Tony slipped his death into the conversation casually, but Steve heard him and visibly tensed up.

"You were dead for about a minute, and then you decided being in a coma was a better idea."

"Thanks for the flowers by the way." Tony smirked.

"It's good to have you back, but don't push it Stark. Right, legally I have to tell you this so listen up."

"Yes sir." Tony mock saluted, Fury just rolled his eye.

"Civilian deaths: 0, civilian injury: 32, military deaths: 0, military injury: 1, approximate damage costs: $ 1 million." They were pretty good statistics considering dragons had attacked New York.

"How much do you want me to pay?"

"A very kind donation has been made from Stark Industries for $ 500,000."

"Fair enough." Tony shrugged, it wasn't really a lot of money for the company.

"Now, that's the boring bit cleared up, time to talk relationships."

Thor slunk back in his chair, still sulking over Jane dumping him. Bruce looked like he was trying to calm himself before the probable massive argument between Clint, Nat, Tony, Steve and Fury.

"Firstly, a side note from me, can you keep your fucking in the bedroom and out of my store cupboard's. I heard some noises that shouldn't be coming from a cupboard, and by the state of your neck Stark I think you might know what was happening."

"What? No, this was last night." Suddenly realisation spread through Tony, he turned towards a red-faced Clint and a surprisingly normal looking Natasha. "Seriously?"

"We uh – we just, maybe…" Clint tried to stutter out an explanation, but Nat didn't look phased.

"Just keep it at home." Fury smoothly interrupted. "Bruce, Thor, you can leave if you want, this doesn't concern you."

"I think I'm going to stay, this might get interesting." Bruce smiled.

"Goodbye son of Fury." Thor got up, knocking over his chair and stormed out of the room. There wasn't really much point of him even coming to the meeting in the first place.

"We're going to need you back later to talk about Loki." _Oh, brilliant._

"Fear not, I shall return."

"Now relationships, because of you four, specifically you two," Fury gestured to Steve and Tony "members of the team were put at risk."

"Yes sir." Steve replied stiffly.

"I don't think that's exactly fair, I mean it's my relationship and I was the one who got injured."

"You were still put at risk Stark, and I have to find out why and stop it from happening again."

"You mean, you're going to ask us to break up."

"I was going to simply suggest-"

"No."

"Fury, sir, I think what Tony's trying to say is that the reason he was put at risk was that we were arguing, I made a stupid decision not to work with him. I realise that what happened can't happen again, and it won't."

"Exactly. So I'll give you three months to get over each other then I expect to have you back, working as a proper team. I need each of you working at your best. Let this be a warning to you Barton, Romanov, don't fuck things up, no second chances."

"If I can't date who I want when I'm on this shitty team then I'm going." Tony got up and walked over to the door.

"You have a contract."

"No I don't, the others do, but I don't. I signed a secrecy act, that's it." Tony pulled open the door, threatening to leave, he knew Fury needed him. "Anything else?"

"Stark, I said I needed you. Without you we won't have a team, we barely have a team with you. We need you to help, but I can't have you fucking things up because you've had a domestic. Don't walk out on us." _Who knew Fury was capable of emotions?_

"Are you going to ask me to break up with my boyfriend?"

"No, but if-"

"Are you going to ask Clint and Nat to break up?"

"Only if-"

"Was that a no?"

"If we didn't need you so much I would've kicked your ass out of that door ten minutes ago."

"Still not hearing a no."

"Fine! No. Everyone dates who they motherfucking want."

"Thank you." Tony sat back down next to Steve, deliberately making a point of holding his hand.

"I need a fucking break, I'm not paid enough for this shit." Fury headed out the room. "One of you go and find Thor." He called behind him.

"I'll go." Clint volunteered.

"Are you going to be alright talking about it?" Steve squeezed his hand and offered a small smile.

"I guess, I don't know."

"Ok, well, if you don't feel comfortable say something, Fury can get a little, enthusiastic, when it comes to these things."

"Sorry, but uh, what is it? Why is everyone talking about Loki? What's happened?" Bruce asked cautiously.

"You stay out of the loop, don't you?" Natasha commented, Bruce shrugged in response, still looking at Tony for an answer.

"Remember I cheated on Steve-"

"He didn't." Steve rushed in.

"What?" Bruce looked very confused.

"I kind of did."

"No Tony, you didn't."

Tony turned back to Bruce "Basically, it's got a lot more complicated and Loki's involved." Tony summarised.

"Right." Bruce nodded, although Tony hadn't really told him anything.

"He wants to finish his box of pop tarts." Clint announced as he sat back down. "Thanks by the way Tony."

"For what?"

"Standing up for us."

"Anytime." Tony smiled.

Soon after Fury appeared dragging Thor who seemed to be clutching a toaster. "Drop it." Fury commanded as they reached the door. Thor sulkily dropped the toaster on the floor and took his seat.

"Now, after that small scale mutiny, we're moving onto another topic that's likely to get you all riled up, Stark."

"Can't wait." Tony rolled his eyes, trying to remain confident. Steve hit him lightly on the leg for being cheeky but Tony just grinned and hit Steve back playfully.

"Right, Romanov you first, then Thor and then Stark. Speak."

"I was in the shop, I heard someone yelling about something, turned the corner and it was Tony. She was trying to kiss him so I pulled her off, I asked her name, she said Loki, then she started saying some stuff to Tony I didn't want to hear so I knocked her out. Then I asked Tony to evacuate the shop and call SHIELD."

Tony started sweating and he felt a bit dizzy, he really hated talking about this. He tried to relive his pain by fidgeting but it made it worse. Steve noticed and moved to place his hand on the small of Tony's back, rubbing soothing circles. "You alright?" Steve whispered softly as Natasha droned on. Tony nodded but Steve obviously didn't believe him.

"Thor?"

"Ah, well, as you know Loki was meant to be locked up on Asgard when this shop incident occurred. Well, he is in fact still on Asgard now, he was on Asgard when the man of iron first met him when he was in his female body. You see it is not Loki, Loki isn't in your dungeon now, it is a projection of him in a human form, so he can change to any appearance he wishes.

As for the love potion, it is a simple remedy using herbs from the fields in Asgard, it increases sexual attraction to the first person they see, as it is told in your fairy tales and stories.

I knew nothing of Loki's plan, I couldn't have stopped what has happened but I am truly sorry for my brother's actions. I didn't realise such a simple potion would have such great effect on an ordinary human I guess-"

"That's enough Thor." Fury silenced him.

The dizziness hasn't stopped but it was joined by a headache, Tony's eyes phased in and out of focus and it felt like his whole world was spinning. He could hear someone trying to speak to him but it was just mumbles.

"I-I need to, g-go get some air." Tony said as he got up and stumbled out of the room.

"Captain, sit back down. Dr Banner, go and make sure he's not having a heart attack." Fury sighed as Tony managed to get out of the room without falling over.

"Tony, Tony, listen to me, sit down." Tony could see Bruce in front of him but he could barely hear him, Tony caught the main body of the message though and slumped against a wall.

"W-what's happening?" Tony panted out.

"I think you're having a panic attack, concentrate on breathing, have you had one of these before?"

"No, don't think so, god – fuck."

"Try and relax your muscles and slow your breathing."

Ton tried to relax but his leg kept trembling and shaking uncontrollably. He did what he could to slow down breathing, he knew he would pass out if he kept breathing as quickly as he was.

"Do you want anything? Water?"

"S-steve?"

"I'll try." Bruce nodded and headed back inside the meeting room. Tony could hear a few shouts then Steve emerged.

"Hey Tony." Steve smiled and sat down next to him. Tony leaned against his shoulder, prompting Steve to put his arm around Tony and pull him closer. "It's alright, I've got you, nothing bad is going to happen to you."

"Why's this happening?" Tony managed to blurt out.

"Try not to think about it, think about happy memories."

"I can't, I-I just – I can't."

"Ok, do you remember that time on our third date? When you took me to a fairground because I had said I always wanted to go to one but now I was too old."

"A-and I said that you could never be too old and took you anyway." Tony laughed as much as he could, remembering Steve's embarrassment. He could feel himself starting to calm down just from Steve's voice.

"Yeah, you were determined to get me that giant rabbit thing."

"I s-succeeded." Tony technically did get Steve the rabbit.

"I still can't believe you paid $100 for a stuffed rabbit."

"It was worth it."

"Really?"

"I got you the rabbit and a kiss and a fourth date."

"I would've agreed to a fourth date without a toy."

"I wanted to be on the s-safe side."

Steve laughed softly and kissed the side of Tony's head. Tony's breathing had evened out and he didn't feel as scared as he was before.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I have so many problems. It's not fair on you." Tony mumbled, just soft enough for Steve to hear.

"I don't care – I don't want to hear it Tony, you're perfect."

"Ok."

"Do you want to go home?"

"N-no, give me a second, I'm fine." He had calmed down a lot, but he was still shaking in Steve's arms.

"Tony."

"I really wouldn't advise staying." Bruce said from the doorway of the meeting room, he had been watching the whole time in case something went wrong.

"Ok, ok." Tony tried to stand up, a little too quickly perhaps, and fell back down onto Steve.

"Easy, let me help you." Steve got up then helped Tony to stand, steadying when he swayed a little on his feet. "Ok?"

"Yeah."

"Luckily for you, I took a car, not my bike." Steve smirked, remembering the one time he had persuaded Tony to ride on his bike. He basically ended up clinging to Steve for dear life and occasionally screamed his head off. "Should I take him to the hospital, Bruce?"

"Only if he wants to go, you don't want to trigger another one. Otherwise go home and let him do anything he wants to do to relax, if he wants you to leave him alone, fine, but check up on him every so often."

"Sure, thanks Bruce, will you -"

"Tell Fury? Ok. But you two will owe me big time."

"Thank you."

Steve and Tony took the elevator down to the car park, Steve made sure Tony was safely in the car before getting in himself and driving off.

"Do you want me to stop by the Hospital?"

"N-no, don't."

"Ok." Steve nodded as they drove past the hell hole Tony had been stuck in for months.

Eventually they got home and Tony felt safe again, when Steve asked him what he wanted to do he didn't answer he just went down to his workshop. Steve let him, remembering what Bruce had said.


	37. Chapter 35

**A/N - OhmygodItotallydidn'tjustwritethat. Warning - Smut**

* * *

Steve came down every so often to check he wasn't passed out on the floor or having another panic attack. Tony didn't really register his visits he had buried himself in work and barely noticed when Steve came down. He managed to design and create a prototype for everything on the boards list. Whenever he had finished something another thing caught his eye or another idea popped into his head. As Tony usually did, he completely lost track of time until Steve came and reminded him that humans needed sleep.

"Tony, you need to eat and get to bed, Peter was actually home for once and you missed him."

"Five minutes, I promise, this time it will actually be five minutes."

"You've said that the last two times I've been down here."

"Steve, I really need to finish this project."

Steve walked around behind Tony and wrapped his arms around his waist, resting his head on Tony's shoulder.

"Let me help you relax." Steve whispered into his ear. Tony sighed and leaned back against him, dropping his tools on the workbench.

"I can't trust myself to think, let alone sleep." Tony confessed.

"I can distract you."

"How?" Tony asked innocently, Steve took his hand and led him towards the elevator. Once the doors had rolled shut Steve bent down to kiss Tony. Tony got the idea and tried to grab onto Steve and pull him closer. "JARVIS, don't let anyone in and turn off the camera."

"We're not even going to do it in bed?" Steve grinned as he took off his shirt. Tony pulled him down for another fierce kiss before replying.

"I hope you're not disappointed." Tony fiddled with Steve's belt before managing to get it off.

"How could I be?" Steve pushed Tony up against the wall, grinding against Tony's hardening cock. Steve kissed down his neck as he blindly unbuttoned Tony's shirt. Steve stepped away allowing Tony to get out of his shirt and take off his vest. "I love you, I love you, I love you." Steve mumbled as he kissed Tony again, slipping his hand down Tony's pants.

"You're topping." Tony checked.

"Yep." Steve pulled away from Tony and shucked down his pants and underwear and threw them in the general direction of the pile of clothes in the corner of the elevator. "They need to go." Steve pointed at Tony's pants and helped him hurriedly get out of them as well as his underwear.

The last and only time they had sex in the elevator was a while ago, it was one of the weirder places they'd had sex although it was not the weirdest. But that's another story.

"Dammit." Steve backed away from Tony.

"What?"

"We don't have lube." Steve walked back over to the pile of clothes and picked up his boxers.

"Honey, I'm not going to let you put your clothes back on." Tony turned him around and pressed their bodies together.

"What do we do?" Steve asked as Tony picked up Steve's hand and brought it to his lips. He gave Steve's hand a quick kiss before sucking on two of his fingers. "This is a whole new level of dirty." Steve laughed breathlessly.

"You love it." Tony smirked, giving Steve back his fingers. Steve traced Tony's hole with one finger, waiting for permission. "Stop being a tease." Tony muttered against his neck.

"Sure?"

"Yeah." Tony kissed Steve's neck in reassurance.

Steve slipped both fingers in, causing Tony to cry out and dig his fingers into Steve's back.

"Shit, Tony, I'm hurting you. I can't do this."

"N-no, Steve, I want it. Please."

"It's hurting you."

"It always hurts."

"O-ok, I'm going to stop if it gets too much though. I know what you can take."

"Yes fine, just, please, quickly." Tony buried his face in Steve's shoulder, littering kisses. Steve adjusted his fingers slightly before finding Tony's prostate and stroking it, slowly circling, loving every moan that came out of Tony's mouth.

"Better?"

"Yes, fuck yes."

Steve stretched Tony as quickly as he could, with Tony protesting and squirming while he did it. Eventually Steve gave up, picking Tony up and pushing him against the wall, kissing him to silence his whines.

"It's gonna hurt." Steve concluded, they had done it without any lube before but Tony had been a lot more patient.

"Don't care, just fuck me." Tony wrapped his arms around Steve's neck, leaning in to kiss him. Steve pressed into him, causing Tony to let out a strangled scream against Steve's lips, scrunching his eyes up and throwing his head back.

"It's alright, I've got you, I'm going to take care of you. Do you want to safe word?"

"No, I can take more than this, h-hold still for a minute though." Tony took a moment to adjust to the ache and burn. He brought his head forward and lazily kissed Steve. "Ok." He nodded. Steve offered a smile and slowly started to move in and out of Tony. Tony ran his hands through Steve's hair and down his back, admiring every piece of Steve.

Steve was being careful; he didn't want to put Tony in any unnecessary discomfort. He knew Tony's limits.

"Look at you, you're gorgeous, taking all this, I love you, Tony, you're so good." Praise tumbled out of Steve's mouth as he set a steady pace, Tony begged him to go faster but Steve ignored him. Tony knew he would come from this speed anyway, he could already feel he was getting close.

"Shit, shit, Steve, fuck." Tony tightened his legs grip around Steve's waist, he could feel himself slipping and he definitely didn't want a repeat of the time they were making out and Tony fell off the bed, completely killing the mood. Steve couldn't stop laughing for hours, Tony didn't find it quite so funny.

"Please say you're close, I don't know how long I can keep this up when you look like, well, that."

"So fucking close."

Steve wrapped his hand around Tony's dick, giving it a light squeeze. Steve couldn't really concentrate so he gave Tony a sloppy and fumbly hand job and there definitely wasn't a set rhythm but Tony was so turned on it didn't matter. After a couple of strokes Tony tensed, feeling his orgasm welling up.

"Let go Tony, baby, come."

"I-I, S-steve – fuck."

"I love it when you're so lost like this, you can barely say my name, so lost in me fucking you." Steve's dirty talk was all it took for Tony to completely, come spilling over his chest and Steve's hand.

Steve thrust into Tony's limp body three more times before he came into Tony. Steve moved to pull out of Tony but Tony stopped him, a firm hand on his back.

"Wait." Tony breathed against his neck.

"Take your time." Steve offered a slanted smile and kissed the side of Tony's head he could reach.

Tony caught his breath and nodded, letting Steve know it was ok to pull out, Tony's rest didn't stop a whimper escaping his lips though. He untangled himself from Steve, stumbling a bit when his feet hit the floor. Steve tossed him his boxers, he slipped them on, not caring he was covered in come. He was already sore and walked over to pick up his shirt with an awkward limp.

"JARVIS, where's Peter?"

"In his room, Captain Rogers."

Steve picked up the rest of their clothes as well as Tony and carried him out of the elevator, but not before double checking the coast was clear, he went straight to their room, laying Tony down on the soft bed. Steve got a damp towel and cleaned up as much as Tony as he could, although he really needed a shower, but that could wait unlike food and sleep.

"Tony, don't fall asleep, you need to eat and then apologise to Peter for not being at dinner."

"Nngh."

"I'm serious, I'm mad at you." Steve said with some fondness in his voice.

"M'sore." Tony pulled out the guilt card. Tony saw Steve's expression falter for a second before returning to his sort of stern sort of amused look.

"I was fully intending to make it to the bedroom, where we happen to have lube."

"Wha'ever, you're killing the romantic after glow."

"It was hardly romantic; we did it in an elevator."

"D'you have something against elevators?"

"Get some clothes on and get your butt into the kitchen, lazy." Steve said as he pulled on some trackies and a t-shirt.

"I'm not lazy, I'll have you know –" Steve silenced him with a sweet kiss.

"Kitchen."

Tony rolled his eyes and pulled himself up, he wandered over to any old drawer and pulled out some clothes. He limped into the kitchen where Steve was hovering by the oven.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself." Steve turned around, getting a plate out of the oven and pushing it over to Tony. "Eat." Steve sat down opposite him, staring quizzically at him.

"What?"

"How are you?"

"Well, I just had some pretty filthy sex with my boyfriend in an elevator and now it hurts to walk, that was fun." Tony dismissed his question, filling his mouth with food.

"Earlier?"

"Fine."

"Do you think you're going to be able to sleep?"

"I don't know." He shrugged.

"Ok, I get you don't want to talk about it. I'm here if you do though."

"Thanks." Tony smiled earnestly.

When he finished eating he dumped his plate in the sink and headed to Peter's room. He knocked on the door tentatively, not sure if Peter was angry or not.

"Hi." He pushed the door open, Peter was at his desk, busy working on something for school.

"Hey." Peter didn't even look up.

"I'm sorry about not showing up, I know we haven't spent a lot of time together recently. It's just – I had a bad day and working helps me forget, for a while."

"It's ok, I get it."

"I'll make it up to you."

"Steve was really worried about you all day."

"Yeah, I know, I – uh – something happened."

"Right."

"What're you working on?" Tony fully entered the room, feeling a bit more confident, closing the door behind him.

"Science project."

"Can I help?"

"Really?" Peter spun around in his chair.

"Yeah, sure! What's the problem?"

"Zero over there," Peter nodded towards the corner of his room where a small bot was whirring around in circles "only moves in circles, and he won't stop."

"You made him?"

"Yeah, I'm not good with engineering or physics, but I'm quite proud."

"You should be, he's way better than my first one."

"Yes, but you built your first one when you were five."

"Still. Have you got a screwdriver?" Tony had restrained the bot and was inspecting its wiring. "This is really good." Tony smiled at Peter.

"Thanks, but why does he only go in circles?" Peter passed him the screwdriver.

"Literally the only thing you've done wrong is get the connections to the movement sector a bit messed up. Otherwise he's perfect. C'mere." Tony beckoned to Peter to come closer, fishing out the circuit board in question. "See, these three wires are in the wrong places, but you're nearly there."

"Oh yeah, the green one should be where the black one is right?" Peter pointed out his mistake.

"You got it buddy, and the black one needs to be where the red one is and the red needs to be where the green is."

"Awesome, thanks. I'll go to school early and do it first thing."

"No problem," Tony got up and moved to it down on a chair "so, what's going on in Peter-world?"

"Not a lot, Gwen's fine, Wade's causing trouble and dragging me into it. Nothing new."

"Alright, kiddo." Tony laughed, knowing for a fact something was always going on in Peter's life, he was just very secretive.

"What about you?" Peter caught Tony's attention before he was about to leave.

"Uh, can I trust you with something? You can't tell Steve."

"Sure."

"JARVIS turn on soundproofing."

"Done, Mr Stark."

"I'm going to ask him to marry me." Tony said softly, in case Steve could hear over the best sound proofing in the world.

"What, seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Nervous?"

"Extremely."

"He won't say no."

"I'm not so sure."

"When are you going to ask him?"

"Sunday."

"I'll be out that evening then, to give you some privacy. You'll need it either way it goes. Got a ring?"

"Made it myself."

"Good luck."

"Thanks." Tony smiled at the floor. "I better go, are you going to be home tomorrow evening?"

"I haven't got any plans right now."

"Don't make any, I'll persuade Steve on the idea of having a take-out and we can watch a movie. Sound good?"

"Perfect."

"Go to sleep at a reasonable time." Tony remembered he had some general parental responsibility.

"I'll try." Peter smiled before turning around and opening up his laptop.

"Steve?" Tony called once he stepped out of Peter's room.

"Bedroom." Tony would make a wise crack at his reply but there was a risk Steve would take it seriously and his ass had already taken quite the pounding.

"You angry?" Tony leaned against the door frame.

"Not really."

"So you are?"

"I guess, this whole day has just been hell and I'm so stressed out. I know I'm being stupid and your day has been way worse and it's stupid for me to complain so I'm going to shut up now."

"No, don't. Tell me, please."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you never tell me about how you're feeling it's always good or fine, unless we're arguing."

"But you've probably just had one of the worst days of your life, don't _you_ want to talk about it?"

"Not really." Tony walked into the room and sat down next to Steve on the bed, putting his arm around Steve protectively. "Anyway, it isn't the worst, I mean hot elevator sex, come on."

"You're ridiculous." Steve laughed and Tony couldn't help kissing him.

"So, what's up bub?"

"Fury breathing down my neck all the time, he piles all the work for The Avengers he can't be bothered to do on me, and that's fine he's a busy guy, but he sets insane deadlines like today he set me a stack of paperwork to do in an hour, then when I brought it over to him to sign because I needed his signature he got angry at me for some reason, even though I had just been slaving over it for an hour trying to get it done on time. I know it's my job and I love doing it most of the time, but today he got to me."

"I'm sorry, that's really not fair Steve. Why do you put up with it?"

"I kind of have to, and I'm angry about him even thinking of the idea of breaking us up because of one slip up. And the slip up was because we were sort of not together in the first place."

"I know, that wasn't right. If he ever pesters you about it again ignore him, it's your life and you can do what you want with it."

"I know, I guess - I know." Steve sighed. "Are you going to try and go to sleep and see how it goes?"

"Yeah, I'll try."

"I'm here if you do get scared." Steve crawled under the covers and Tony copied him. Steve pulled Tony into his arms and tangled their legs together. "JARVIS, lights." The AI didn't respond he just turned down the lights and let the couple fall asleep.


	38. Chapter 36

**A/N - Someone sent me an anon on Tumblr saying they wanted me to write dirty talk so this is my attempt!**

**(I'm so sorry omg) **

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews!:)**

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Tony's night wasn't as bad the last, at the worst point he woke Steve up and they watched a half an hour long documentary on clown fish, which was a little bit weird but it helped Tony keep calm for the rest of the night.

He woke up to Steve still in bed, which was nice seeing as it only happened on rare occasions. Then he realised something was pressing into his back. His eyes flew open in realisation, Steve had a boner. This was about to get interesting.

"Steve, you have a boner." Tony pushed his ass back into it slightly, confirming it was definitely there.

"I realised."

"Gonna do anything about it?"

"I was just going to leave it."

"How'd you get it?"

"How'd you think?"

"I mean, what were you dreaming about?" Tony rolled over and kissed Steve carefully.

"A kink – well, not really. Something I like." Steve mumbled into the pillow. He was so cute in the morning.

"Evidently, what is it?"

"A secret."

"Seriously? C'mon, tell me and unless it's a creepy foot fetish I might be able to help you out."

"It's not a foot fetish."

"I'll tell you one of mine if you tell me what you were dreaming about."

"I know one of yours. Sex toys, specifically vibrators."

"When'd I tell you that?"

"When you were really drunk and horny at some party, I can remember exactly what you said if you want me to quote it."

"No, I think we're good." Tony really hated his alcohol days and regretted every one of them he spent passed out in his workshop or on a stranger's floor.

"By the way, I bought some."

"Sex toys?"

"Uh huh."

"You buying sex toys, why wasn't this splattered all over the news?"

"Got them online."

"Smart, anyway, don't change the subject. I'll tell you another one of my kinks if you tell me yours." Tony reached down and palmed Steve's erection through his trackies.

"Tempting offer, but no, it's embarrassing."

"I'll tell you a kink and 'something I like' then."

"Two things you like, a kink and you have to tell me first."

"Fine, I like it when you call me baby and when you touch my balls and I guess – I don't know if it's really a kink but when you mark me. Hickeys, bruises, bites. Yeah, I get turned on by that."

"Really?"

"Yes, now tell me yours."

"Dirty talk." Steve covered his face with a pillow. It was adorable.

"Steve, that's not embarrassing! Are you lying?" Tony laughed, tugging the pillow away from his face so he could lean down and kiss Steve.

"No, and it's more embarrassing than yours."

"Oh my god, Captain America likes dirty talk."

"Shut up."

"No, I'm not going to do that because you like dirty talk and you have a boner."

"What? Are you serious?"

Tony answered by pushing down Steve's trackies and wrapping a firm hand around his cock. He set a tortuously slow pace, making Steve buck into Tony's hand and squirm on the bed.

"Faster, Tony, please go faster." Steve panted.

"Look at you, you little whore, wanting so much more, begging for it." If Tony did anything he slowed his pace down, Steve made no attempt to cover up his grunts. Tony didn't know how this went from a bit of a joke to Steve writhing and moaning thanks to him, but he liked it "Do you want more?" Steve didn't respond, he just threw his arm over his face. "Answer or I'll stop."

"I- I w…wa-" Steve stuttered out. Tony let go of his cock and Steve whimpered shamelessly. He looked up at Tony pleadingly, but Tony just raised his eyebrows, waiting. "I w-want y-you to finger m-me."

Tony purposely got up and went to long way around to get lube out of the drawer, he took in Steve, spread out on the bed, hot, flustered and fidgety. He sat back down by him, squirting the lube on his fingers and spreading Steve's thighs.

He pushed a single finger in, Steve grunted and groaned, shifting to accommodate the fact there was now a finger up his ass. "You're so hot and tight, you haven't had anything in your ass in ages have you? It's because you love fucking me, don't you? You love the way you make me moan, you suck it all up." Steve's cock started spilling pre-come; he really did love dirty talk.

Tony found Steve's prostate, and began stroking it. Steve started quivering and moaning as Tony circled his prostate, he was so damn responsive, it was beautiful. Tony slipped in another finger, drawing them in and out, brushing his prostate each time. "So greedy, I bet you want me to put in a third finger, because you like taking it all, you love it, such a slut."

Steve fumbled to with his cock, messily giving himself a hand job. Tony batted his hand away and replaced it with his own, moving in the same rhythm as his fingers. Steve arched his back up, so Tony pushed him back down on the bed, leaving a kiss on his lips.

"You're so desperate for more, I would fuck you but I think I would get about three thrusts before you came, you're that close, I can feel it." Tony was right, it only took two more skilful strokes in and out of Steve with his fingers carefully brushing his prostate for Steve to come. He came in thick ropes over Tony's hand and his own shirt.

Tony pulled out his fingers and leaned down to kiss Steve, who was still foggy from his orgasm. "You're amazing Steve, I love you." Steve looked up at Tony sleepily, not quite processing the compliment – probably because Tony had gone from dirty talk mode to caring boyfriend in three seconds flat.

Tony pushed Steve's hair back off of his face before hopping off the bed to get a towel. Tony washed his hands then cleaned Steve up. Steve helped a little by lifting his hips up so Tony could clean up his cock and pull his trackies back up. Tony took off Steve's t shirt and threw it in the wash bin, he decided not to get Steve another t shirt so Tony could gawp at his abs while he was still dazed out.

Tony happened to have a raging boner, how could he not, but he ignored it, preferring to snuggle up to Steve and fall back to sleep.


	39. Chapter 37

**A/N - This chapter is basically my way of voicing my annoyance at a guy at my school but oh well - I hope you like it!**

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When he woke up again he was alone in bed, but he heard Steve in the kitchen. He stretched and rolled out of bed, shuffling into the kitchen sleepily. Steve had put on a hoodie much to Tony's disappointment.

"Morning." Tony scooted past Steve to get to the coffee machine, kissing his cheek as he got past.

"Hey, pour me one too. You literally just missed Peter, he said he was going to school early to work on his robot science thing."

"Zero." Tony nodded, pulling two mugs out of the cupboard.

"Huh?"

"The robots named Zero."

"Did you help him with it? I think that's against the rules."

"I'm sure other kids are allowed to ask their parents or carers or whatever to help them."

"Not a lot of other kids have Tony Stark as a parent."

"Anyway, I didn't really help him, he was a bit stuck with some movement issues, I showed him the circuit board and he figured it out himself." Tony passed Steve some coffee and sat down opposite him.

"I don't really understand, but ok."

"Also I promised him we would get a take away and watch a film to make up for last night."

"Movie, fine. Food, not fine."

"Why? We used to have Chinese every night."

"Yeah, before we had Peter. He needs to eat proper food."

"Please."

"I'll think about it."

"You're always grumpy in the morning when you don't have a run."

"Watch it Tony."

"It's your day off today isn't it?"

"Yeah, are you free?"

"I need to call Pepper and Bruce but otherwise I am."

"Ok," Steve gulped down some coffee. "I'll think of something we can do together." Steve kissed him as he went to put his mug in the sink. "Feeling ok?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Sorry about waking you up last night."

"It's fine, I found that clown fish programme very, uh – informative. I'm going to go get in the shower."

"Ok, see you later." Once Steve was in their room, Tony pulled out his phone. "JARVIS, sound proofing." He remembered as he dialled Pepper's number.

"Hi Tony, haven't spoken to you in a while."

"I know, sorry about that. Are you and cute guy still dating?"

"If by cute guy you mean Ed, no, we broke up."

"Aw, I'm sorry, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, we weren't even going out for very long. Only took a couple of dates for me to work out he's an asshole."

"Took you a bit longer with me though? By the way, I have prototypes for everything on the board's list, and a couple of extra things."

"I know Steve told me, he also said you had a panic attack and told me about Loki. If that's what you're phoning about?"

"No, it's not, it's er – something Steve doesn't know about yet."

"What are you going to do Tony?"

"Propose."

"Oh my god, are you sure?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"What happened to being scared of commitment?"

"I'm already sort of committed to him, I mean I don't want to sleep with anyone else or actually be with anyone else."

"Good for you Tony."

"Thanks, I just thought I should tell you before I do it."

"Good luck, tell me how it goes."

"Sure, see you Pep."

"Bye Tony."

After that he phoned Bruce and delivered pretty much the same message. And Bruce's reaction was pretty much the same, nobody seemed to be able to grasp the concept of Tony Stark settling down.

Steve decided that because it was a nice day they could spend it together wandering around central park, talking about nothing. It made Tony realise why he loved Steve so much, with anyone else he would've hated or rejected the idea of spending the day pointlessly walking through a park, but with Steve it was interesting and kind of fun. He found out bits of information he didn't know about Steve when they had these little outings together, for example Steve's sexuality.

"Tony, are you actually bi?" The question seemed to come out of nowhere, they had been talking about cars a minute ago.

"I say I am because it's easy for people to get their heads around, but I have no idea. I always assumed I was straight so I never thought about guys in that way, but then you asked me to go on a date with you and I thought what the hell, you're attractive, so why not? I still don't really think about guys in that way, you're the only one I really like and, well, love. That didn't make any sense. Why are you asking?"

"Does it make me gay that I've only slept with you?"

"No, of course it doesn't. It's who you're attracted to, not who you've had sex with. Why are you suddenly asking all this?" Tony gestured for Steve to sit down on an empty bench.

"I don't know what I am, I'm so confused." Steve mumbled, resting his head on Tony's shoulder.

"It's not easy working it out, I'm still not entirely sure, I don't think anyone is. If it really matters tell me what you like and who you've dated and I can tell you what I think?"

"You."

"Not helpful."

"Well I haven't really dated anyone else."

"You told me you've kissed three people, who are they?"

"You, Peggy and some girl."

"I take it you didn't like 'some girl'?"

"She was the first girl I kissed."

"What happened?"

"I was at a base or something; she came up to me, started talking to me and kissed me. It was nice-ish, she was very kissable."

"Was she pretty?"

"Yeah, I guess, but it's not all about looks is it?"

"Did you want to have sex with her?"

"I thought you said it wasn't about sex."

"Wanting sex and actually having sex are different."

"No, I didn't like her in that way. We only kissed once and I never spoke to her again."

"Peggy?"

"I was attracted to her." Steve nodded, Tony knew Steve was sensitive about her so he didn't press him for anything else. He felt bad for asking about Steve's previous relationships, Steve never asked him about his.

"Are there any other guys you liked?"

"Other than you?"

"Yeah."

"Bucky, but we were friends when we were kids so doing anything would be weird."

"Right."

"What do you think?"

"I think you're pansexual."

"What?"

"It's when you're attracted to the person, regardless of their gender etc."

"So it's kind of like being attracted to their personality."

"That's what most people say, yeah. But I'm in no place to tell you what your sexuality is though Steve, it's just what you're naturally attracted to and even after what you've told me I could never make that judgement."

"Thanks, I uh – thanks."

"Do you want to know about any of my er – previous relationships? You're so open with yours."

"N-no, no. I really don't. Do you want to grab some lunch?"

"Yeah, sure." Tony smiled, taking the hand Steve offered.

They stopped off for lunch at a burger joint, then continued wandering around aimlessly for a couple of hours before heading back home so they got back just before Peter.


	40. Chapter 38 - Part 1

**A/N - Cute, fluffy, domestic chapter split into two parts! (Because I haven't written the next part) Thank you for the reviews!:)**

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They got home and Tony practically collapsed onto the couch. Steve put on a random TV channel, Tony wasn't concentrating on it though, he was concentrating on Steve's lips on his. Basically all they did until Peter came home was kiss, Tony didn't know why Steve was in such a fluffy mood but he liked it. Up to the point Peter walked in.

"Oh god, Gwen I'm so sorry, just – come to my room."

Steve pulled away from Tony, looking very shocked and a little ashamed. Tony couldn't help giggling. "Tony!" Steve hit him softly on the arm, "Stop laughing!"

"This is hilarious."

"We can't just order pizza if Gwen's here, I'm going to have to make something quickly."

"Why?"

"You can't order pizza when guests come round!"

"Sure you can, look, if you want to make something bake a cake. But we're having pizza." Tony kissed Steve again before getting up off the sofa. "I'll go make sure Gwen's not scarred for life." Tony patted Steve's shoulder as he passed. "I'll also go find out what pizza she wants."

Tony knocked on the door and actually waited for Peter to respond so he didn't walk in on any _activities._

"Tony or Steve?"

"Tony."

"Come in."

"You wouldn't let Steve in?"

"He'd probably be awkward and embarrassing, so no."

"Does that make me cool." Tony smirked, knowing it would embarrass Peter.

"Get out."

"Why? I haven't said hi to Gwen, hi Gwen by the way."

"Hey Mr S- Tony."

"Anyway, I guess you're not scarred from your traumatic experience about five minutes ago."

"If I didn't need your help with Zero I would've shut the door on your face by now."

"Aw, I love you too Peter. But, the main message I came to say is that I managed to persuade Steve on the pizza front, but now he's worrying it's considered rude to order pizza when we have guests so he's making a cake or something. Basically are you ok with pizza?" Tony turned to Gwen.

"Yeah, we're never allowed it at my house."

"Ok, so circle the one you want." Tony passed the menu and a pen to Gwen. "What do you need help with buddy?"

"Well, we won't win if he's operating on a remote. Can you help with voice commands?"

"I don't know, JARVIS, do you think I can do that?"

"Considering your ability to create me, I believe the answer is yes, Mr Stark."

"Stop showing off." Peter scolded.

"Oh my god what was that?" Gwen gasped, staring at the ceiling.

"Wait, is this your first time here?" Tony took the menu and pen back and handed them to Peter.

"No, I've been a couple of times but this is the first time you and uh - Steve have been here."

"JARVIS is my AI, ask him anything and he knows it. Peter doesn't like using him though, it feels like cheating or something. He's not like a robot, he's everywhere, in the suits, phones and uh, in this tower and in Malibu."

"That's amazing."

"Ok, can you tell me how to program Zero." Peter interrupted.

"I'll show you how to program him to lift an arm, it's similar for the rest though."

Tony pulled over a chair and sat down by Peter's laptop. "Ok, pull up the programming software. You need to put in a start command for each separate thing you want him to do. So drag the start thing over here, then you can start building on it." Tony continued to explain and show Peter and Gwen how to program the little bot. Once they had built the sequence Tony had to run downstairs to get a few microchips.

"You should only need one for each circuit board, it'll get a whole lot more complicated if you have to use two or a bigger sized one. You should get around ten commands on these though. You know how to put stuff on a microchip don't you?"

"Yeah, I don't know where it goes in him though."

"I'll help you when we get to that, it's a bit tricky."

"Ok, thanks."

"No problem, oh Gwen, I know Steve's probably worrying so are you really offended we're ordering pizza and that Steve hasn't come to say hi yet?"

"Not at all."

"Great, I'll keep him out your way. Pizza should be like half an hour."

Tony left Peter's room and went to the kitchen to find Steve.

"What pizza do you want?"

"Uh, margarita please."

"Size?"

"Medium."

"Sure."

Tony dialled the pizza place's number and hopped up onto the counter.

"Do you even know how to use a chair?" Steve softly scolded. Tony rolled his eyes, waiting for the pizza place to pick up.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

"Can I order a couple of pizzas please?"

"Sure, just list the type and size you would like."

So he did.

"Have you ordered with us before?"

"Yeah, we have."

"You should be on the system then, can I take your last name?"

"Stark, although you might have the address under Rogers."

"There are three Stark's on the system, can I have your first name as well?"

"Uh Tony."

"Wait – Tony Stark as in Iron Man - Tony Stark."

"That would be me, yeah." Tony laughed softly, he always found these encounters funny.

"Oh my god, I should've got that when you said Rogers."

"I think he's very offended you didn't."

"I'm sorry Mr Captain America, sir." She said through giggles. Tony liked this girl.

"Steve, the pizza girl says she's sorry."

"What?" Steve looked up from his cake making.

"He's confused."

"I would be too, he can't hear me."

"I guess that would explain it."

"Tony, stop flirting with the pizza girl." Steve chided, smiling to himself.

"He told me to stop flirting, sorry I guess the date's off."

"Aw I was looking forward to it."

"Me too."

"I've kind of gone off the script, so I'm going to pretend I said a load of stuff. Basically your pizzas should arrive in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Tony hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.

"They should be here in like fifteen minutes."

"Roll your sleeves up and wash your hands, I need you to help me."

"You said I was a terrible chef today."

"I have never said that." Steve shook his head. "I said I wouldn't trust you in the kitchen to make anything alone. You would probably set fire to the house."

"I made an omelette for Pepper once, she didn't eat it, but I didn't burn down the plane." Tony said as he stirred the mixture Steve had given him, he then split it between two tins.

"Tony! I broke Zero!" Peter yelled from his bedroom.

"I have been summoned."

"Don't just give him the answer, let him work it out himself, ok?"

"Got it boss." Tony kissed his cheek and went to find Peter. "What've you done?" Tony asked as he walked into Peter's room.

"His arm fell off and we really can't waste any time fixing him at school, can you fix him in your workshop?"

"How'd you break him, I thought you were working on programming?"

"I was testing his arm moving up and down on the remote."

"I told him not to." Gwen sighed.

"No you didn't, you said we shouldn't be messing around with the bits that do work and focus on the bits that don't."

"Should've listened to Gwen, Peter." Tony grinned, picking up the arm and the robot.

"I know, will you fix him?"

"Nope, but you can come down to my workshop and fix him yourself."

"Really? You barely let Steve and Pepper down there."

"Steve and Pepper don't know how to build a robot, but I do let Steve in, his art stuff's down there."

"How long do you think it'll take to fix him?" Gwen asked politely.

"You know how to make him, it shouldn't take too long."

Tony held the door open for Peter and Gwen before walking over to the elevator.

"Uh, I hope you're not going down there to work." Steve called from the kitchen. "Oh, hey Gwen."

"Hi." She smiled and waved at Steve.

"They're fixing the bot, we'll be like five minutes."

"Five minutes to you Tony is two hours."

"I'll call you if he starts working on his own stuff." Peter bargained.

"Ok, fine."

"Thanks Steve." Peter smiled before following Tony into the elevator.


	41. Chapter 38 - Part 2

**A/N - More domestic fluff before the big proposal! Thank you for the reviews :)**

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Peter picked up Zero and carried him back to their room, Tony wandered into the kitchen where Steve was decorating the cake.

"Looks good."

"I rushed it, so it's not the best."

"It's perfect, just like you." Steve turned away from the cake and captured Tony's lips in a kiss, Tony hummed contentedly, wrapping an arm around Steve's waist and pulling him closer. "Seriously? That worked?"

"I wanted an excuse to kiss you."

"Aw."

"Shut up." Steve laughed to himself. The pizza guy was buzzing to be let in so Tony walked over and lurked by the elevator with some cash.

"Hi, er, thanks, keep the change." Tony tried to balance four pizzas in one hand while awkwardly handing over the money. The pizza guy nodded and mumbled something along the lines of 'you're welcome' before the elevator doors closed.

Tony put the pizzas down on the table and didn't even need to call Peter before he came out of his room, followed by Gwen.

"What film are we watching?" Peter asked, taking their two pizza boxes and jumping on the couch.

"You still want to watch a film with us, I thought we were embarrassing?"

"You're alright."

"Don't worry, you're way nicer than my parents." Gwen smiled at Steve before sitting down next to Peter.

"I'm sure your parents are lovely people."

"My dad's a cop."

"Well, I know most of the police don't like us. But I'm sure he's still a nice person." Steve was always so polite.

"Peter, Gwen, you guys can pick a film. We'll get some drinks, what do you want?" Tony pulled Steve over to the fridge.

"Can I have a coke?"

"Me too, please."

"Sure."

Tony got two cans of coke out of the fridge and passed them to Steve. "What would you like?"

"Water's fine."

Tony poured two glasses of water and sat next to Steve on the couch.

"What film did you choose?"

"Batman."

"Which one?"

"The first one."

JARVIS played the film and everyone ate their pizza, Tony managed to keep his distance from Steve, not wanting to make Gwen feel uncomfortable in any way. When they had all finished their pizza and the drinks were running low Steve collected the rubbish and Peter went to fill up drinks.

"Hey, uh – Tony, can I ask you a question?" Gwen asked cautiously.

"Shoot."

"Sorry if this is invasive, you don't have to answer, but why doesn't Peter call you Dad or anything like that? He told me he was legally adopted."

"That's not invasive at all, and, well the answer is we're not Peter's real parents and we'd never want to try and replace them, because his real parents were good people, just a really unfortunate thing happened to them so it's our job to make them proud of him and raise him right. And, I guess we don't want to make Peter feel weird around us, so we wouldn't force him to call us anything, he just chose Steve and Tony."

"That makes a lot of sense."

"I think so too." Tony smiled.

"Oh god, I just realised I left you two alone. Gwen, whatever he said was a lie, I'm so sorry." Peter walked in, carrying new drinks.

"I thought I was the cool one?"

"Oh god." Peter buried his head in his hands. "I am really sorry you had to sit with him." He turned to Gwen.

"No, it's fine!"

"When did we get so embarrassing anyway? You used to be obsessed with us, the first time I met you, you were reading an Avengers comic and you asked me to sign it for you and get the rest of the team to sign it and you also said Captain America was your favourite – which was hurtful."

"I remember you telling me about that at school, you were so excited. That was when you worked at that jewellery shop right?"

"Yeah." Peter groaned and let himself fall over sideways, hiding his face in the couch.

"Can I ask why Peter's trying to suffocate himself in the couch?" Steve placed the cake on the coffee table and sat down next to Tony.

"We're embarrassing him, maybe we should invite Gwen over when the whole team's here. That would be hilarious."

"Don't even joke about that." Peter mumbled into the couch.

"JARVIS, un-pause the film." Steve intervened, not wanting to upset Peter.

For the rest of the film Tony managed to creep closer and closer to Steve, anyway, what's a movie night if you can't cuddle? Eventually Tony's head was resting in Steve's lap and his feet were dangling over the end of the couch carelessly.

When it finished Peter and Gwen headed into Peter's room, leaving Steve and Tony to clean up. Well, mainly Steve cleaned up but Tony hung around to keep him company.

"You feeling ok?" Tony asked as Steve slumped down on a chair.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit tired."

Tony took his hand and dragged a very reluctant Steve off the stool. He pulled him into their room and shut the door behind him. "You. Bed. Sleep. Now."

"Tony it's like 9pm, I'm not that tired." Steve yawned, not exactly helping the point he was trying to make.

Tony sat on the bed and held his arms out. "Come here." He smiled warmly. Steve stumbled towards the bed and settled in Tony's arms. Tony kissed his forehead and fiddled with their entwined hands. "What's the matter bud?"

"Nothing, I love you."

"You're starting to worry me."

"I'm stressed out about something I shouldn't be – it's none of my business."

"What is it?"

"You don't want to know."

"It's about me? Oh god, what have I done?"

"How many people have you had sex with?" Whatever Tony was thinking of, it definitely wasn't that. "I know I said I didn't want to know earlier and if you don't want to tell me it's fine, but it's been bugging me and -"

"I'll tell you, but it's really high Steve. I don't want to scare you away."

"What about people you've had serious relationships with?" Steve knew about the period in Tony's life when he'd bring home a new blonde practically every week and he also knew that was behind Tony now.

"Six."

"Ok." Steve nodded, processing the information. "Pepper, me and four others?"

"Yeah. Uh – two high school and college girlfriends – their names were Lucy and Ellen. Then I think it went Lily then Jess, Pepper, You."

"And a bucket load of one night stands."

"Yeah."

"Do I want to know how many?"

"I don't think you do."

"Ok."

"Are we good?"

"Uh huh." Steve stared down at the bed like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Steve, I know you have every right to know how many people I've been with, seeing as I know about you, but why are you asking?"

"Are you getting bored of uh – us?"

"What?! No! Steve, you mean everything to me. Why, you're not getting bored are you?"

"No, no I'm not Tony. It just really hit home today when you reminded me I'm the only guy you've been with. For a while today I just kind of felt like your 'gay thing' because you've slept with so many woman and I'm the only guy, I don't know, it doesn't make sense saying it out loud."

"Steve you're not just my 'gay thing' I love you and I care about you. You're the first guy I slept with because I never even considered I liked men before you asked me out. I'm sorry if I made you feel like that, I honestly didn't mean to."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Steve. Now can we kiss and make up?"

"We weren't arguing."

"You're so stubborn." Tony put two fingers under his chin and pushed Steve's head up, leaning down to kiss him softly.

"No I'm not." Steve muttered when Tony pulled away. Tony smiled and kissed Steve again, his tongue swiping across Steve's bottom lip, asking for permission to deepen the kiss. Tony couldn't say he wasn't surprised when Steve pulled back.

"Something wrong?" This whole conversation was starting to make Tony doubt more and more that Steve would say yes on Sunday night.

"No, it's uncomfortable like this." Steve moved out of Tony's arms and sat next to him instead.

Tony placed his hands on the small of Steve's back and leaned in to kiss him again, jolting back in surprise as Steve yawned just as he was about to kiss him.

"Sorry." Steve giggled, Tony reached for a pillow and hit Steve with it in revenge. "You didn't." Steve grabbed the pillow and hugged it to himself.

"What are you going to do about it?" Tony grinned, relishing the surprised look on Steve's face.

Steve threw the pillow in Tony's direction, Tony caught it and chucked it off the bed. Catching Steve off-guard Tony jumped on him and pushed him down on the bed, pinning his hands above his head.

"You're getting slow." Tony settled on Steve's chest, his knees each side of Steve.

"I told you I'm tired." Steve made no attempt to get out of Tony's grip, but smiled up at Tony instead. "Can I have my hands back please?"

"Why?" Tony asked, but he did loosen his grip.

Steve pulled free, grabbed Tony's arms and flipped him onto his back, narrowly missing the edge of the bed.

"Hey!" Tony was about to hit Steve back but then he realised Steve's lips were extremely close to his. "Oh."

Steve smiled and caught Tony's lips in a kiss. Tony's hands wandered everywhere, but mainly down Steve's back and extremely muscular arms. Steve's tongue flicked across Tony's lip and so he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss. It was intimate, but not sexual. It was nice.

Steve pulled back and lay next to Tony, his smile was infectious. Tony couldn't resist giving him a quick peck on the lips again before settling down beside him.

"How 'bout we just go to sleep here." Tony mumbled.

"We're both dressed."

Tony pulled off his top and shucked off his jeans before turning back to Steve. "Easily solved."

Steve rolled his eyes and got off up the bed to pick Tony's clothes up and get changed himself. Tony groaned and crawled up the bed to get in it properly, it wasn't as hard as he made it out to be but he was always a drama queen.

Soon Steve hopped into bed next to him, Tony curled up against Steve's side, an arm thrown loosely across his waist. "By the way, you're not free on Sunday evening." Tony said casually, although his heart was pounding at even the thought of what he was going to do on Sunday.

"Where are we going?" Steve kissed into Tony's hair.

"Surprise, sh don't ask." Tony closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.


	42. Chapter 39

**A/N - This is the last proper chapter! I would really love some reviews on this chapter because I'm not very happy with it and I might go back and change it later. I wouldn't want a story finishing where this chapter leaves it, so I'm going to write an epilogue soon.**

* * *

All of Saturday Tony panicked; Steve could tell something was up but he just thought it was excitement from Tony being able to work again. Tony placed the ring in the inside pocket of the jacket he planned on wearing, checking every minute to make sure it was still there.

Sunday was even worse; all he did all day was fake a smile when he saw Steve and nervously text Pepper.

**Tony: Help. Pepper, I'm freaking out.**

**Pepper: You'll be fine, by tomorrow you'll be engaged.**

**Tony: I don't want to do it, what if he says no and we break up?**

**Pepper: He won't say no.**

**Tony: How do you know?**

**Pepper: He won't Tony! **

**Tony: Maybe I'll just take him out on a date and say it's a pre-anniversary thing.**

**Pepper: No, Tony, it's normal to be nervous.**

**Tony: That doesn't help me.**

**Pepper: Steve will say yes.**

**Tony: Ok.**

At around six Tony decided to start to get ready, he put on some black dress pants, a white shirt and a black tie. He put on his suit jacket, triple checking he had the ring and waited nervously by the elevator for Steve.

He checked his phone and saw that he had three new messages.

**Peter: Good luck! **

**Bruce: Keep calm, you'll be fine.**

**Pepper: By tomorrow I promise you, you will be engaged.**

He texted back his gratitude and slipped his phone back into his pocket when Steve walked out. He was wearing a dark grey suit, white shirt and a skinny black tie. He looked amazing.

"Wow." Tony huffed.

"What? You said to dress smart."

"You look, well, uh – great." Tony could already tell he wasn't going to be the best person to have a conversation with in his current state of nervousness, but Steve would have to put up with it, just for one night.

"Thanks." Steve kissed the corner of Tony's mouth as he passed him, pushing the button for the elevator.

"Any clues as to where we're going?"

"Brooklyn." Tony smiled a little shakily.

"Tony, is something wrong?"

"N-no, it's your favourite place right?" _Damn his nerves._

"Yeah, by the river."

"Good." Tony stepped into the elevator and Steve followed him.

"Tony, you're acting all weird, you're not ill are you?"

"No, I'm fine – and I'm not acting weird."

"Whatever you say." Steve didn't sound convinced. He took Steve's hand and lead him out of the elevator and into the car. Happy mouthed 'good luck' at him before getting into the driver's side.

There was a little walk from where Happy parked to the restaurant. Tony tried to convince himself that everything would be fine and in about four hours they would be hugging and kissing and engaged. Or Steve would say no, leave Tony and move on. But that probably wouldn't happen. Probably.

"Hi, uh – we booked under the name of Stark?"

"Right this way, sir." The waiter nodded curtly and walked over to a seat by the big window, looking out across the river.

"Tony this is amazing, thank you." Steve smiled when the waiter had gone.

"No problem."

"Are you uh – going to tell me what you're upset about?"

"I'll wait until we're somewhere a little more private, otherwise theories would be on the internet before I could even get my words out." Tony laughed nervously.

Throughout the meal Tony's heart was pounding against his chest, it definitely wasn't good for the reactor and you could see its faint glow even under two vests and a dinner shirt. The ring felt heavy in his pocket, whenever he started to relax he reminded himself why they were having dinner and that he had to actually propose at the end of the night.

Three hours later Tony had paid the bill and they were ready to go. When they were outside the restaurant Tony took Steve's hand and led him in the opposite direction of where the car was parked down the road. He found a small track, which he knew would follow down to a small clearing which would be the perfect spot for him to propose.

"Tony, please don't tell me you're ill and you're not going to get better. I don't know what I'll do without y-" Steve rambled. Tony had noticed Steve was on-edge all of the meal, he had done a very good job of hiding it for the most part but towards the end he got a bit jittery. It really wasn't fair saying there was something important, then not telling him for three hours.

"Steve, I'm fine." Tony interrupted.

"Ok, that's good. I love you." Hearing Steve say that last part pained Tony slightly, because he didn't know if Steve would still love him and want to be with him after what he was about to do. It might be the last time Steve said I love you to him.

"I love you too."

"Then whatever it is we can get through it together, right?"

"Steve, I'm not dying." Great way to start a proposal speech, but Steve was looking at him expectantly now so he couldn't stop. "Steve, I uh – I'm trying to propose."

Tony dropped down on one knee, sure, they weren't at the clearing and he could hear his tailor softly crying in the distance but he definitely wasn't going to stop now.

"S-steve, I love you more than – oh God – Steve, I would trust you with my life and I kind of do all the time, so I'm taking a big jump with this one and I uh – I want to make you the happiest man alive, I want to be with you forever. I've messed this up but -"

Tony paused his speech which was quickly turning to crap to look up at Steve. He was smiling, that was a good sign right? Or maybe he was just trying to stop himself from laughing at Tony's pathetic attempt at a proposal. It made him more determined to get his words out properly in a last ditch attempt to impress Steve.

"Steve," Tony stopped for a second to compose himself. "I love the feeling I get when I'm around you, you make me feel like I'm worth something, like I have something to live for. Honestly, if I didn't have you I think I might've k-killed myself – even when you didn't know, you gave me hope and you have talked me out of doing it so many times unknowingly. So, thank you." Tony wasn't crying, nope, definitely not.

"I'll try to not hurt you anymore Steve, and I know how much damage and pain I've caused you already – and I know you say the Loki thing wasn't my fault but whenever we talk about it I know you're upset and angry and I'm really sorry. I wish I could change what happened and I hope we can work past it, together."

"What I'm trying to say is that you mean the world to me and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You make me want to be a better person."

Tony's shaky hands managed to pull out the ring from his pocket and open the box, presenting it to Steve.

"I want to love you and care for you as long as I live. Steve Rogers, will you marry me?"

Steve pulled Tony into a bone crushing hug, which was good right? Apart from the fact Tony couldn't breathe. Tony buried his head in the crook of Steve's neck, one hand clutching the ring and the other gripping the back of Steve's shirt.

When Steve let go of Tony he stepped back, wiping away his tears. He smiled and looked down at the floor then back up to Steve.

"So, will you uh – marry me?"

Steve smiled so brightly Tony wanted to kiss him and hug him and never let go, but he had to hear Steve's answer.

Steve was nodding, sniffing back his own tears before he said it:

"Yes."

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TBC


	43. Chapter 40 - Epilogue

**_EPILOGUE_**

Tony woke up next to Steve, he reached down to find his hand and double checked what happened last night was real. He felt the cool metal around Steve's finger and yeah, it was definitely real.

As soon as Tony had proposed the night got better and better. Happy was the first one to know the outcome seeing as they could hardly keep their hands off of each other for the excruciatingly long drive home. When they stumbled through the door they both headed straight from the bedroom. Tony was pretty sure they fucked at least three times and Steve had given Tony a blow job in the shower.

"First day of being engaged." Steve spoke softly, snapping Tony out of his memories from last night.

"Yeah." Tony smiled, kissing Steve's cheek.

"W'time is it?" Tony rolled over and checked his phone. The screen read 11.38am. He noticed he had 3 messages; he didn't even have to look to know who they were from.

"Half past eleven."

"I can't believe how nervous you were, I've never seen you like that before." Steve was staring at his ring, twisting it on his finger.

"I was proposing to Captain America."

"I wasn't going to say no, you know how much I wanted to get married."

"Yeah, I kind of forgot about that."

Steve smiled and kissed Tony softly, cupping Tony's cheek. Tony rolled onto Steve's lap, leaning on his chest, grinning into the kiss. Steve pulled away, still smiling at Tony.

"I'm really glad we didn't break up." Tony played with the dog tags hanging around Steve's neck, running his finger over the engravings.

"Me too." Steve fiddled with the hair at the nape of Tony's neck before kissing his forehead.

"Steve, are you going to try and _fix_ me?" He spat out the word 'fix' like it burnt.

"No, you're already perfect."

"Having anxiety attacks and cutting myself doesn't seem too perfect."

"Hm." That seemed throw Steve a little bit. "If you don't like those things about yourself, we can get help." And yet he still managed to come up with a faultless answer.

"Ok."

"Ok?"

Tony smiled, leaning up to kiss Steve. "Yeah, I think we're going to be just fine." He whispered against Steve's lips.

"Breakfast?"

"Uh huh."

Steve got out of bed, pulling on some random clothes before heading out to the kitchen. Tony decided to check Twitter for the first time in about three months, he grinned at the top trend. "#StarkRogers" Tony had no idea how news travelled so quickly, he hadn't even told Pepper, Bruce or Peter yet. He grabbed a hoodie and some boxers before following Steve into the kitchen.

"Well, we're trending worldwide. I need to tell Pepper before she finds out from Twitter instead of me." Tony came up behind Steve, wrapping his arms around him and kissing his neck. Tony stole a strawberry and popped it into his mouth while Steve was distracted by pancake mixture.

"Hands off, greedy! Who else knew you were proposing?"

"Bruce and Peter."

"You didn't tell Clint and Nat?"

"You know what Clint's like, he would've told you."

"Fair enough."

Tony made the three phone calls, Pepper was very smug but very excited – she literally couldn't say a sentence without the words "proud" or "congratulations" in it. Bruce had pretty much the same reaction. He texted Peter, knowing he would be in a lesson and got back a reply that must've been sent and typed under his desk: "Cngratz, tslk ltrr."

Steve put a plate of pancakes in front of him as he was putting his phone away.

"Thank you," Tony pulled Steve into a kiss by the collar of his shirt. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Things were going to be ok, Tony had support and security. Steve wasn't going to suddenly abandon him because he made a mistake. Steve would always be there for him, forever.

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**A/N - WAHOOO! FINALLY GOT TO THE END.**

**Wow, this fic was way longer than I ever thought it would be, thanks for sticking with me!**

**Thank you for all your reviews and favourites and follows! Like seriously - this is my second fic and all your feedback is so helpful!**

**So yeah, any more help with how I can get better would be great.**

**Thank you all!:)**


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